A Last Drop:Battle for Remnant
by Johnnieboy11
Summary: A Harakoni Warhawk sees himself dropped into the strangest realm possible, where Daemons roam free and strange abhumans and humans threaten each-other with death. Thankfully, his training should help keep him alive during his stay at a school that trains warriors for combating both Daemon and other foes alike. Time for Death From Above! (Rated M for lots of reasons)
1. The Warhawk's Drop

**_Emerald Forest._**

Slowly, the four girls of team RWBY trekked through the Emerald Forest, with Ruby Rose, the charismatic, ecstatic and young team leader on point. The young girl had short, chin-length hair that went from dark-red at the top of her head, fading to scarlet at the tips. She wore a black and red combat dress, with a corset around her waist and her usual, crimson cape wrapped around her, her weapon in hand. Her weapon's magazines had the symbol of the Red Rose plastered on. The massive sniper-scythe, Crescent Rose, was deployed to full scythe mode, Ruby's hands occupying the rear handle and the bolt action handle, which she kept locked with a button attached near the weapon's mechanism.

Following her was her partner and the second of the team's namesake, Weiss Schnee. She wore a strange, snow-white dress and, on top of it, a jacket with the Schnee Dust Company symbol, the Snowflake, on its back. The Heiress kept her eyes open and her hand wrapped around her decorated revolving dust chamber rapier, Myrtenaster's, hilt. Her azure eyes were locked onto the left side of the treeline, where movement continued to be ever-present. Grimm and animals, no doubt. She patted her combat skirt down and murmured"I'm seeing a lot of moving creatures..."

"Grimm, probably." Blake answered quietly. The raven-haired girl had bright amber eyes and wore a very strange outfit, formed of a black item of clothing over a white sleeveless shirt, black bandages wrapped around her hands and thighighs with different shading, going from black at the top, to bright lilac-purple at the end, also bearing her symbol, a black tulip, and a pair of black sneakers. She also had a bow on top of her head. Her hands were clasped around the hilts of her weapon system, Gambol Shroud, a combination of Mistrali weapons and a pistol.

Knuckles cracked and a slight chuckle was heard as the fourth member of team RWBY brought up the rear. A brawler with unkempt, long golden locks of hair and bright purple eyes, the girl wore a brown jean jacket and a strapless bra underneath it, that was yellow and bore her symbol, the burning rose, similar yet different to Ruby's red rose. The girl cocked her shotgun gauntlet pair, Ember Celica, then said "Let'em come. We've faced worse."

"Don't jinx us, sis..." Ruby whispered from the front, her silver eyes locked ahead, at a tower of smoke going up into the sky.

Yang shrugged, then said "What's the worry, sis? We're here to find what the Headmaster needs and walk out afterward. It's been an awful dull mission, so I don't see why some combat won't help us have some fun." to which Weiss sighed, then looked ahead and asked "Come to think of it, Ruby... What did the Headmaster say we should find?" before Ruby looked back and said "Headmaster said apparently a gunship crashed nearby... The Vale ATC caught it just as it was going down... It had no IFF, but the Radar spotted it almost instantly and it vanished just as it appeared. It blinked on, then off."

"Special ops?" Blake wondered. Ruby shrugged and said "Probably... Not sure how, though... Vale ain't got much of an army left."

"And don't you think the IFF would'a blinked once if it was VDF?" Yang mused. Blake shrugged, then answered "Maybe." to her blonde partner. The girl then looked to Ruby and asked worriedly "Should I scout out ahead, Ruby? I'm a bit more stealthy, maybe just enough not to scare the troopers that survived and report to you." to which Weiss muttered to herself "If _any_ survived... Shouldn't they have sent Military instead of us?"

"Weiss." Ruby sighed. She looked to Blake, then told her "At the first sign of trouble, come back..." to which the young woman tilted her head lightly forward, before starting into a silent sprint. Yang walked up, taking Blake's spot and still bringing up the rear, as the rustles around intensified. Yang saw the shady figures of Grimm Beowolves getting closer, as well as maybe an Ursa and a couple of Boarbatusks... The animal-looking creatures, resembling wolves, bears and wild boars, respectively.

Weiss looked to Ruby and said "I'd suggest we take a more defensive stance."

Ruby hummed and said "Yeah, might be a good idea..." looking slightly scared... The Grimm creatures seemed to encroach ever closer. They'd been stalking them for a while, Ruby could tell. The girls kept telling her about the shady-looking creatures moving parallel to them, so of course she was suspicious. This just confirmed it:The things lead'em into an ambush. Probably a pack of beowolves, an Alpha included, with an Ursa and a pair of boarbatusks.

She twitched, watching one of the first creatures emerge from the shadows. The malformed, semi-humanoid dog that was the Beowolf, its bone-white fangs bearing out of its mouth, stained with crimson blood, that of a human, flesh still stuck between the canines and other teeth, growling. Its back was covered in a porcupine-like weave of uneven bone spikes that protruded from its black fur coat and the top of its head had a heavy bone plate, etched with symbols and crisscrossing patterns, like veins, ending in its crimson, angry eyes. Ruby shuddered. These things must've gotten to the poor gunship's crew first...

Its brothers soon joined, led by the bigger, more deadly Beowolf Alpha. Its bone-plate armor was more advanced, more developed. The spikes protruding from its back were larger, bloodied... One of them had a strange, gunmetal green helmet impaled on it. Its chest had a ribcage-like set of armor, its elbows and kneecaps guarded in the same manner, its claws longer than its younger brothers. The two boarbatusks emerged next. Boars with long fangs and boar plate armor that looked like scales against their black fur stood, snarling at the trio... Finally, the Ursa came. The massive, bear-like creature crawled on all four, its spikes even more bloody than the Alpha's.

"Oh, boy..." Ruby swallowed "Looks like they got to the crew first..."

"Shit..." Yang swore, taking a combat stance. Ruby looked back and berated her sister "Language..." to which the Blonde said "Really? I'd be more worried about the things about to kill us, Rubes." as the beowolves danced circles around them, looking for a perfect time to strike. Weiss murmured a short Valeian prayer she'd learnt back home, then drew Myrtenaster, followed by Ruby racking the bolt of Crescent Rose and locking eyes with the Alpha...

Two of its young apprentices snarled, to which he barked sharply, leaning on all fours as well. The duo lurched ahead, moving at high speed, right in Ruby's sector... One of them launched up into the sky, extending its claws with a roar, before... Bolts of crimson lightning struck it, sending it to the floor, torn in half. A strong, rough male voice with a strange accent barked out "OI!" taking the Grimms' attention away from their prey.

The girls gasped and gazed to the left, to see a man clad in an incredible set of heavy armor, standing there and taking aim with a bayonet-tipped carbine, which was linked to his backpack via a pair of cords and its barrel was smoking. His armor was thick, heavily padded but still allowing good mobility. He had two strange prongs protruding from his back, which seemed to the girls' trained eyes as thrusters... A Jetpack!? His armor was painted gunmetal green, with brown and grey stains, as well as the livery and emblem of a strange, unknown regiment. His face was covered by the mask welded to his helmet, a rebreather with a pair of tinted black visor glasses. He also had a sensor suite/communication panel on the side of his helmet, that shined crimson, and his pack also had antennae.

Sitting beside him, Blake had Gambol Shroud drawn, pistol aimed at the Beowolves with a grin. She nodded to Ruby, to which the red girl smiled and nodded back.

"OVER HERE YOU BUNCH OF FLAK-WIPE FERAL BEASTS! I GOT A LAS-BOLT FOR EACH OF YOU!" the soldier barked, kneeling, racking his weapon as it hissed and shouldering it. He watched as the comrade of the beowolf he killed turned about, snarling, then it rushed ahead. The man's eyes were locked down the scope of his weapon and, despite it being unseen, he grinned as he sent a burst of LASER fire into the creature. The rounds impacted its bone-plate armor, punching right through it and making the animal stagger and fall. The man aimed low, into the black fur and shot again... The demon split in two, then vanished.

Another rushed, forcing the boy to draw a second weapon, a pistol with similar cords attaching it to his powered back pack, and aim. He fired from the pistol, a bolt of scarlet power punched through its guts. He proceeded to sweep the other advancing creatures with laser fire, filling the areas adjacent to team RWBY full of energy fire. Six beowolves fell in the first salvo, three more in the next, but the Alpha, Boarbatusks and Ursa remained.

He watched the massive beast advancing toward him as he cut swaths into the Beowolves. The weapons in his hands hissed with steam and heat, barrels burning white. He looked to Blake, then barked out calmly "Take anything that survives on that side! I'm overheated!" to which Blake simply nodded. She ran, jumped up and, with a fluid movement, sent six cuts into a surviving Beowolf, chopping skin and fur off its body.

The soldier hummed as the weapons showed alarm runes. He nodded to himself, slung both on his back and drew a decorated sword from its sheath, located on his back. He flicked a switch and the weapon thrummed to life, its motors sending currents of electricity and fire through its blade. It shined a bright scarlet-orange color as the electrodes transported energy to and fro... Big Bear rushed him fast and hard, roaring.

He looked to his left hand and tapped a button on the palm, knelt and pumped his legs, launching himself up into the sky with an aiding burst from the thrusters, higher than any normal human could jump. He swiveled the blade up and barked out "THIS IS FOR THE BOYS ABOARD MY VALKYRIE, YOU BIG BASTARD!" before slicing down, right down the middle, through the bridge of the alien creature's nose, splitting its bone plate and body in two, the flames of the blade burning through its body faster than it disappeared.

He drew his pistol again and watched as the boarbatusks rushed him, doing their spinwheel trick. He eyed the first one and lead it as it tried to dodge out of the way of his weapon... Then fired. The blade of energy sliced it clean in half. As the other one approached, the boy dodged utilizing his thrusters to dash to the right, before "FOR THE PILOTS, GOOD MEN THAT DIED IN THE CRASH!" thrusting the sword forward and impaling the 'Tusk right in the mouth. It moinked once in surprise, then broke in two.

Standing up, the boy eyed the Alpha Beowolf with a killer look from behind his combat visor. He aimed his pistol as the creature snarled at him, then said "And this is for the Emperor... You Chaos filth." before firing just as the monster rushed him. The creature growled as it covered itself in its thicker bone hide. Lasbolts punched through and cracked the creature's second skin, scratching at the main body, but only angering it. It got ever closer and the weapon overheated again, hissing. The boy lowered the pistol, gripping the sword tightly.

The creature jumped out and a girl yelled at him, but he couldn't hear... He hissed "And this is for the Emperor, you Daemonic bastards." slicing right down the creature's gut, turning about and immediately stabbing it right through the lower jaw, blasting through its head and shearing whatever stood for its brain in half, before throwing it to the floor and firing one more Las Bolt into its head.

He holstered the pistol, then sheathed the sword and looked back toward the four girls, the one which encountered him bearing a wide grin. He walked up to them, then looked down at Ruby... The guy was a head above all of them and clearly lean and mean. The amount of strength needed to carry such a set of carapace armor must've been incredible.

Ruby looked up at him with a blush, then whimpered before he said reassuringly "Stay calm." his voice slightly distorted by the helmet speaker "I'm a human."

He looked to the girls, to see most of them staring at him in stupor. He realized, then said "Ah, right." before wrapping his arms around his helmet. He twisted to the left as the helmet hissed, some O2 escaping from it, before he removed it and slung it under his arm. That didn't help the girls' situation any more. The boy was a handsome bastard. A strong jawline outlined a war-weary, scarred face. He had four claw marks reaching from the left side of his forehead to the bottom-right side of the cheek. A black-ink tattoo of a scorpion resided on the left cheekbone, its long tail wrapping around the side of the eye, stinger reaching just above his brow and he had brownish-green eyes and short, scruffy black hair. His forehead also had a scar from a small suture on the far right, covered by some loose hair.

"Why're you staring at me like that?" He asked, uncomfortably arranging the collar of whatever he wore underneath the Carapace armor, as he locked eyes with each girl. The blonde one on the left seemed to be drooling, her jaw dropped, while the girl on the right stared at him partially in awe. She'd been the one to warn him of her friends being in trouble...

The soldier shifted uncomfortably, before asking "Should we not be moving out of here? I need to report to the nearest airfield to redeploy... And report the deaths of my crew... Emperor rest their souls..." he looked with a distant look at the pluming smoke from his gunship. Ruby was the first to shake off her stupor, then said "U-Uhm... Right... Our condolences for your guys..." sadly. He looked to her, nodded and said "Thank you."

"Uhm... Quick question, dude..." Yang said from beside Ruby. The boy hummed and nodded "Go ahead?"

"Who's this 'Emperor'? You mentioned him twice, but there's no Empire on Remnant... At least not anymore."

"What?!" The trooper barked, his eyes wide with shock. Yang nodded, then said "Yeah..."

 _Feral world, this Remnant, maybe Feudal, then... Undiscovered, clearly._ The boy thought. He sighed, nodded and said calmly "Right... We'll talk more about this somewhere safe. Did any of you call for an evacuation craft?" to which Ruby took out her scroll, thumbed a button and said "Yeah. Now I did." with a smile. She nodded to him, then asked "What's your name?"

"Marcus... Lieutenant Marcus Maelon of the Harakoni Warhawks 43rd Air Drop Regiment, Imperial Guard." The boy smirked proudly, then pounded his chest plates with his right hand "For the Emperor, Death from Above!" to which the girls looked to each-other, shocked at the sudden reveal of the young man's occupation. Yang then asked "Wait... You're a paratrooper? As in, you jump down from aircraft with parachutes?" to which the boy corrected "Grav-chutes. Anti-gravity devices that utilize slight suspension fields to help us land safely on any planet. Parachutes, the cloth items, have been long abandoned by the elite drop shock troops of the Imperial Guard."

He patted the two prongs on his back, making the awed girls stare at the items with awe. "Mine are slightly better in that they can give me a jump boost off a ship or off the ground, slightly. I usually jump from above-orbital heights... But it'd seem that this time, the Valkyrie gunship I flew in didn't allow me to. Crash was rough, but..." He sighed "At the very least I'm alive." before stepping past them and picking up an item that'd dropped out of his pocket. He flicked the cover off it, thumbed a red button on it... And thunder sent a shockwave bursting through the air. He hummed, seeing the smoke plume from his Valkyrie enlarge, then muttered to himself "Rest easy, boys. No filthy thing's gonna touch your gear or your bodies."

He looked back and told them "Explosives pre-set into the Valkyrie in case of a non-fatal crash behind enemy lines. One man lives from it, he's gonna blow up the entire damn thing, just so that the gear and men aboard it don't wind up in the Orks' or, Emperor-forbid, other foes' hands." and he set the detonator into one of his chest rig pockets. The girls just now noticed, on his shoulder, the numbering and Emblem of the Harakoni Warhawk regiment. Imperial Aquila with claws holding a dagger and a Lasgun, with the writing ' _Mors Principium Est_ ', 'Death From Above' in Gothic lettering, caught in a scroll-banner below. Below, on a skull, was imprinted the numbering of the Forty-Third in Gothic runes: ** _XLIII_**.

The sound of a pair of jet propulsion engines resounded from above. The boy looked up and eyed a bulky, fat transport with thin cannards and VTOL capabilities, moving in to land, its charcoal-grey hull standing out in the sky. He sighed, then muttered to himself "Looks like a failed attempt at a good gunship..." before walking to it as it landed. He helped the girls board first, nodding to each of them, then, under his own strength, climbed aboard. He sat down on one of the netting chairs, set his helmet down at his feet and put his hands together, beginning to whisper a prayer.

Upon finishing it, he took out his Hellgun, the weapon specifically made for the shock-troopers and heavy infantrymen like him to use in combat. He checked the power and coolant cords, strapping them in tightly and locking them into place. He murmured to himself "I'm gonna need fresh coolant..." as he set the weapon back into its cradle, took out the Hotshot pistol and repeated the process of tightening and locking the cords, before setting it back onto his armor-side holster. Ruby stared with dumbstruck amazement at the amount of weapons the man carried... The sword in its sheath, placed on his rear armor plate, decorated and incredibly well-designed, that Laser gun and pistol, a strange ballistic weapon(Looked like a 13mm Pistol?!), another sword in some kind of heavy metal sheath and... A FLAMETHROWER. The girl saw the extra gas tanks of the weapon on his hips, two, plus the one in the weapon making it three...

Yang elbowed her sister lightly in the arm, then scolded in a whisper "Not polite to stare, Rubes."

"Look at the gear on him..." She whispered. "A flame thrower, two swords and two laser weapons, as well as that massive revolver pistol. Not exactly something I can keep my eyes off of." to which Yang snickered, then said "Wow, Rubes. Just wow." mockingly. She looked ahead at their other two team-mates, then she shrugged with a smirk. Weiss planted a palm on her forehead, while Blake rolled her eyes and looked to see the man still readying his gear. He seemed calm... Very, awfully calm about his situation, but his eyes said otherwise...

* * *

 ** _AN:ALRIGHT, So this(I hope) is the last story I'll start until I delete some of my older, abandoned stories, because FUGG I don't wanna mess it up like this. 32 fucking stories. Seriously me. Fuck off._**

 ** _Anyways, in other news, School's started, I caught a cold, my grandma turned the age counter of her life up to 80 Sunday and I have a fucking nephew at nearly 18. FRIGGEN REALLY. Thank ye, Lord, they're in another city, so I don't have to babysit... Anyways... Onto more important matters of my life right now, like fucking catching up to my classmates..._**

 ** _Also, as a final note, you may see someone new from the RWBY Canon join the crew. She's certainly better than her 'OLDER'(By like... 10 minutes) twin brother in combat and at making friends, she (or a variation of her) has fought in the 100 years' war between LE FRENCH(*INSERT WHITE FLAG FRENCH SURRENDER JOKE HERE*) and YOU WOT M8? Britain some time ago here on Earth, she has blonde hair and Dishwasher1910 has an artpiece of her on his account._**

 ** _I'll let y'all readers, old and new, figure out who I'm talking about by next chapter, which should, hopefully, be up tomorrow or some time soon. Until then, I'll try to finish some homework because fuck having a cold. See y'all!_**


	2. Academy of Warriors

_**Beacon.**_

The young man stared at the strange place they were about to land at with slight awareness, but with mostly a dismal look in his eyes. The strange, castle-like building had no gothic symbolism or buildings, instead looking bland, simple. It had no defensive positions, but instead changed out the actual defenses for the looks. There was a shining clocktower in the middle of it all, taller than anything and supported by four strange struts of sorts, semi-arches. Around the main landing pad and welcome area, what looked like arches over arches stood as decorations on the green soil, with a fountain in the middle of a small, central meeting point. Crimson-colored trees flanked the paths, neatly aligned like soldiers for a parade. The Hab-blocks for the students were not far away behind and around the main campus, whilst behind them resided a wall and, finally, Forestry.

People milled about, clad in brown uniforms, the boys with long pants and the girls with short pleaded skirts, with books and strange devices in their hands. The aircraft swung about for the landing zone, allowing for the soldier to stand up, hoisting his helmet and gear, whilst whispering the Litany of Protection as he stepped off onto the illuminated reinforced concrete of the hanging landing pad. His heavy, armored boots collided with clicks to the floor and several of the students ahead stared at him, surprised and possibly even fearful at the scarred warfighter.

Ruby walked up beside him, checking a weird, transparent-screened device, then told the Hellgun-toting drop trooper "Uh, Marcus? Headmaster Ozpin is gonna want to see you."

The soldier nodded, then asked "Where should I go meet the man?"

Ruby pointed at the shining clocktower in the middle, a structure with an emerald tint to its light and its inner workings and cogs visible through the tinted green glass. The boy stared in disbelief for a moment, then muttered to himself awkwardly "Place reminds me of one of those Villains' lairs from those old 'The Fallen Inquisitor' comic strips I used to read back with the Phantine..." He sighed, then nodded to Ruby and said "I'll go, then."

"We'll return to our dorms too..." Ruby said, yawning and stretching. "It's been a long assignment..." words to which Marcus nodded and said "Thank you for bringing me over." before walking off. Team RWBY watched him in quiet admiration as he walked away, back turned toward them. It allowed them to appreciate how much shit he had strapped to his back. The laser weapons, two swords, the flamethrower and flamer canisters, two belts of grenades... If a drop trooper could hold up that much from this Empire he was from, then they must've had a lot of good technology... Or really tough, strong men.

He walked past the statue that greeted him, one with two huntsmen of theirs sitting atop an outcropping of rock, whilst a Grimm creature lay below the male huntsman...

Marcus didn't break his path for anybody, even if he felt their eyes drifted upon him. He simply ignored the frightened, awed or other kind of stares from the students, advancing toward the tower. He could swear to the Throne he'd seen this shit before somewhere. It was possibly the only hive-city-like structure in this place, even so barely. He clipped his helmet to his belt, his arm tired of holding it under his armpit. It clicked, locking into place. The boy arranged his fingerless gloves under his plated gauntlet, then checked the armor straps, tightening them. He scanned his surroundings for possible avenues of escape, ignoring the civilians.

He didn't know what to expect as he took his final steps toward the tower. The automated door scanned him and slid apart with a low hiss, allowing him entry into the lobby of the tower. A rather large, empty central part in the middle of all the concrete and stone. A desk and several benches lay in the middle, but the desk and chair were empty. The soldier sighed, moving to one of three elevators. He tapped a button out of the two present. The elevator rang and he walked in.

He tapped the button and the elevator doors closed. It went up at a relatively high speed, high enough he was already up in the tower. The elevator dinged and the doors slid apart again, allowing the boy to walk out, to the sight of the glass floor caught in a metal frame. The thick glass allowed him to see the inner workings of the mechanic clock, whilst a massive cogwheel rested on the left, half out of the floor, half inward, spinning slowly with the rest of them... Huh, a Techpriest would have a nerdgasm here.

"Ahem..." A female voice cleared her throat, taking the boy's attention to the desk with a similar decor to the rest of the tower. It was turned away from the main window, that which displayed the runes of the clocktower backward. There was a woman with blonde hair that was neatly arranged, caught in a bun behind the back of her head and glasses. She wore a strange teacher's outfit, with an even stranger cape. A skirt, white top and thigh-highs, as well as stilleto heels. Her piercing emerald eyes glanced at the boy quickly, before she turned about and looked to the man seating at the desk.

He had short, scraggly silver hair and amber eyes, hidden behind a pair of small sunglasses. He wore dark-green clothing, with a strange scarf wrapped around his neck that had his supposed symbol on it. The man smiled, standing up from his seat, then said "Welcome." leaning onto his cane. Marcus sighed, then crosshed his arms and said "You're the Headmaster here, are you not?"

"Yes, of course. I'm headmaster Ozpin, young man." The man smiled. Marcus nodded, then walked up to him and gave a quick salute, before extending his hand and saying "Lieutenant Marcus Maelon, Harakoni 43rd. Your school seems lacking in the defenses department."

Ozpin's right brow quirked up "Hum? What do you mean?"

"Whole lot of open space, sir, and no Anti-Air defenses I could see. This place may be located on a cliff, but I saw forestry not far behind the main hab-blocks. And nothing but a sort of wall. If anyone would want to mount an assault here, they'd have an easy time doing so." He said, crossing his arms. Ozpin nodded, then said "Yes, well, Vale has the natural barriers of the forestry and mountains to the east of us as protection... The few Grimm you've encountered when rescued are probably pickets."

The boy scoffed, then looked to Ozpin with an angered stare "Well, they succeeded in pissing me off. My boys, those sweet few that survived the crash, died fighting'em. Outnumbered us three to one... Managed to gun down a lot of'em, but I lost every single man under my command somehow." before sighing and saying "Guess the bastard daemons are pretty tricky if they managed to kill Harakoni... Then again, the poor sods I commanded were Elysians and a few rookie Harakoni..."

"I'm sorry for your loss, Lieutenant. I bet they were good men." Ozpin said solemnly. He showed the young paratrooper to sit down in front of the desk. The young man walked toward the seat and took it calmly, before looking to the woman beside him, who held a crop in her right hand. She stared at him with a mix of surprise and fondness. Ozpin gazed upon the boy, then asked calmly "So... How old are you, Lieutenant?"

"Seventeen, sir. And a half." He responded nonchalantly, making the two present gasp. The woman covered her mouth with her hand and Ozpin asked "And you're an officer?" blatantly shocked. The young man nodded and said "Served a few years in three campaigns. From Aurelia as a guard to one of our Inquisitors, to the Fall of Medusa V and the battle of Torrhahn Primaris."

"Three Campaigns? Young man, just for how long did you fight?" Ozpin asked in pure bewilderment. The Warhawk shrugged, then said "Since I was... 11, I think? Maybe 12?" making the non-Imperials stagger with pure surprise. Marcus looked on, unimpressed at the two. He felt a loose armor plate at his leg and went on to tighten its grip on his leg. He looked back up, to see the two staff members of Beacon staring at each-other. Ozpin sighed in apparent defeat, then looked at the boy and asked "Just... What kind of people would need you for war?"

"The Emperor, for in His name the Guard, His Hammer, fights." The boy responded sternly and proudly. "And for the Imperium and its people, of course. That would be self-explanatory, however."

Ozpin nodded, awed still, then asked "You'd give your lives for the Emperor?"

"As he sacrificed Himself for us and ascended into Godhood, so would we give our lives for Him and His creations. Our Imperium is besieged day to day by filthy Xenos, plagues and the damned Ruinous Powers of Chaos Undivided, whom corrupt, cleave and kill... With the latest development being the worst in our realm yet." The boy responded with a nod. If anything, Ozpin seemed to have a look of respect on him now. The Headmaster spoke calmly "I see... I've a proposition for you, Lieutenant." he then offered, to which Marcus nodded and said "I'm listening, sir."

"If you wish to continue to help humanity, we would still require students... One of our spots has always been open out of necessity." Ozpin explained calmly "And we can give it to you. Now, before you say yes or no, let me tell you that we need help. It is not just the Grimm that threaten our kingdoms. A new terrorist organization appeared, a shadow of what it once was."

"Go on." The soldier urged, focused on the story. Ozpin nodded, then continued calmly "You see, we have this race similar to Humans, but that developed animal traits and ears. WE call them Faunus... And the Faunus have been under oppression since the earliest days of humanity. Racism and such predominated our past regarding them. After a revolution of theirs some 80 years ago, the organization rose as a desire for peace and equality between us and them. The White Fang became a symbol for the Faunus, that of peace and of hopeful prosperity... It worked for a while, until people became disdained with the Faunus again... A few years ago, however, the White Fang's peaceful ways changed. Their original leader stepped down and soon, we awoke to protests that were peaceful turning dark. They were armed. Terror attacks, destruction of stores and such, dozens dead... You can guess the rest."

The boy bowed his head and sighed "Are all the Faunus Abhumans members of this bloody cult?"

Ozpin was slightly taken aback by the boy's wording. He regained composure, then shook his head and said "No... Not all of them. Most are just usual civilians, walking the streets calmly. We even have Faunus in Beacon." to which Marcus stopped to think. _So some see humanity as friends, or at least hope for peace, still... Hmph, good._ He nodded, then said "Very well... And you wish me to join you. Help you fight the White Fang and halt its agenda?"

Ozpin nodded, then extended his hand over the desk, to the Warhawk and asked "What do you say?"

The soldier had had time to figure out his new 'employer' so to speak. A man of seeming age, careful in every movement he made and a master of words, or at least twisting them to his own benefit. The boy half-swore that Ozpin was some sort of agent of Tzeentch, but he'd have smelled the scent of Chaos the moment he met with those four girls. No... He also saw resolve in the old man's weary eyes, alongside sympathy. He sighed deeply, unsure of his choice, then said blandly "I've not got another place to stay, sir... Count me in." then he gave a smirk and shook Ozpin's hand hard.

The headmaster smiled, then nodded and said "Very well. We will need to sign you up into Beacon's computer database." before leaning back and tapping his desk... A holo-pict-screen appeared ahead of the boy, making him gasp. A keyboard with runes also appeared on the glass of the desk itself. Ozpin keyed in a command, then looked to the boy and said "Full name and age again, please."

"Marcus Maelon, 17 and a half." The boy said. Ozpin quickly typed in the information, then he looked to his silent adjutant and said "Glynda, if you'd please take the young man's picture, so we can finish the process." to which the woman said with a silk-smooth voice "Of course, Headmaster." taking out a device from her pocket, one with a black body, and tapping a golden button in the middle of it. It extended, two prongs holding a holographic projector... A handheld cogitator? What kind of technology...

"Please, look at the camera, Lieutenant." The woman said fondly, arranging her glasses and pointing at a black circle on the top prong of the large holo-cogitator. The boy nodded, then stared right into the camera, stern. A bright flash overtook his eyes and a digital 'click' ticked off from the device. The boy blinked, clearing his vision. She looked to Ozpin and nodded "Done." to which the man said "Very well. You are in, Lieutenant... Welcome to Beacon." adding a smile. The trooper stood up and brought his right hand up to his forehead in a salute. Ozpin responded with a mock salute and an "At ease. We'll talk later, Lieutenant Maelon.", enough for the boy to nod and stand down.

"Glynda, please do take him to the free room in Dorm block 3." Ozpin told his aide. She nodded, then walked in front of the trooper and said "If you'd follow me." calmly. The soldier nodded and responded "Right on your six, ma'am." allowing for the woman to take point. They walked out of the place and into the Elevator after bidding a quick goodbye to Ozpin.

The trip down to the bottom was a silent one, but Marcus could feel the woman's eagerness to end this as quickly as possible and probably go cry. She seemed like the type of a bleeding heart sympathizer. The elevator dinged. They walked off and out into the main avenue of Beacon, as always full of students, only for Marcus to hear something...

" _Get the hell out of my way, you bullheaded bastards."_

The voice was female. Four voices laughed in unison... The boy gazed to his right, to see a young woman surrounded by four goons. She had long, golden locks caught in a wavy ponytail that reached down to her waist, with a left fringe partially covering her eye. She was also quite a voluptuous girl. Placed on her body was a set of body armor much similar to the boy's own carapace armor set, save for being lighter and missing leg armor. On her hip, there was a mace and on the back, a shield, with a golden double crescent symbol on it. The armor's breastplate had a similar symbol on the left side. She had a short cape hanging off her rear belt and wore blue jeans and a pair of sneakers.

Around her were four dumb-looking goons, one of them clad in a knight-like armor with strange symbols all over it. He had red hair and dark-blue eyes that simply spoke 'idiot'. His other friends were not even worth the mention... The boy sighed, rolling his eyes, then set his helmet on his head and said to Glynda "Wait for a moment, ma'am..." before walking toward the group. Glynda looked over, to Cardin Winchester and his team and the new young girl that came in, then rubbed her brow "Oh, Heavens help them..."

Winchester crossed his arms, then said "How about ya make me, lil' girl?" in a smug, mocking tone.

He felt a tap on his shoulder, then looked back, about to blurt out something probably stupid, but he staggered when he saw the Harakoni holding his Las Pistol pointed to the boy's face, right between his eyes. He was slightly taller than Winchester. The pistol thrummed, then hissed as it charged. The Warhawk then spoke, his voice enhanced by the modifier "How about you four neanderthals leave this girl alone."

The girl chuckled, then spoke mockingly "Did ya hear that, dickhead? Someone else thinks you're a neanderthal." hands placed on her hips. Winchester growled, then looked to Marcus and said "How about you put that pistol down and fight me like a man if you've got such a big mouth, Soldier-boy?" in a low growl. Marcus nodded, lowering his pistol, then said "Sure thing... Just give me your name."

"It's Cardin freaking Winchester. Why's it matter to you, Soldier-boy?" Snapped the bastard, gritting his teeth. Marcus smirked, holstering his pistol, then said "Oh, nothing, Winchester... Just so I know what to write on the bodybag." before cracking his knuckles. Winchester looked at the soldier, then let out a mocking laugh and said "Think you're threatening? Your armor looks like cardboard, you little runt!"

"Yeah, sure..." The Harakoni said with a disinterest, stretching his hands forward. "Your goons can join too... Let's make this easy on you." with a smirk... Cardin looked on, confused, before he gazed back and nodded... Then turned about to receive a punch that sent him fucking _flying._ Before the man even touched the ground, Marcus was quickly on the next enemy, a boy with dark-blue hair. He grabbed him by the arm just as he threw a punch, twisted the arm back behind its owner, spun him about and delivered a helmet-aided HEADBUTT to the bastard, making him stagger, confused and contused. The Harakoni wasted no time, rushing ahead and delivering a low sweep-kick, knocking the man over and into unconsciousness.

The other two rushed him, but one of them took a kick to the face, that sent him tumbling to the floor. The sneaker shoe that delivered it soon resolved into the blonde girl, smug grin on her face as she took the third bastard, one wearing a green mohawk, by his spiky hair, and throwing him back before joining the Harakoni, a good hand-to-hand stance.

The four stood up and growled, looking at the duo.

"Uh-oh... Round two." The girl said, her voice, though soft like an angel's, filled with urgency. The Harakoni looked unimpressed, before he answered "Feels like I'm fighting those training dummies back at home." making the girl chuckle as he watched Cardin stagger to his feet, glaring at the boy with a bleeding nose. The bastard roared, then rushed again. The Harakoni and girl looked to each-other and the latter smirked. They nodded, then proceeded to deliver a twin-linked kick right to Cadin's face, sending him to the floor. The blue-haired one came in from behind and threw a punch, but Marcus caught him by the wrist and spun him back with the redirected kinetic energy, before kicking him in the ribs HARD enough to hear a crack.

Meanwhile, the girl parried punches from Cardin's two other goons. She spun and elbowed one in the chest, stunning him, before sending several light punches into the other one's gut. Marcus ran forth and, with help from his Grav-chute, delivered a flying roundhouse to the mohawk boy, sending him spinning in the air before he fell to the floor, scraping it thanks to the momentum. The Guardsman then caught the last one's fist in his open palm, blocking the attack directed for the girl and allowing her to deliver a heavy, hard uppercut right in the groin. The bastard screamed in sheer agony and even the Warhawk cringed at that, before twisting his arm, grabbing him by the throat and slamming him into the floor, thus cracking the paved road.

And the Warhawk hadn't even broken a sweat... He looked back, to see the girl, panting and sweating, but with a smug grin as she taunted the boys "X JUST GAVE IT TO YA, MOTHERFUCKERS!" and laughing heartily. She looked back to the Warhawk, a sly grin on her face, then said "Thanks for the help. Had half the mind to let that Winchester guy throw the first punch." calmly dusting herself off and wiping the sweat off her brow. "My brother's letters weren't kidding... Such a bunch of idiots."

She extended her hand to Marcus, then introduced herself happily "I'm Jeanne Arc, by the way. What's your name?" to which the boy shook her hand and said "Name's Marcus Maelon. Lieutenant." before removing his helmet. The girl ground to a halt, blushing. She smirked, a devious, somewhat perverted grin "Well, hello, sir. It's nice to meet you... Quickly, how old are you?"

"17." The boy said, somewhat confused. The girl's grin remained. She nodded and said "Alright then... Well, I'll go find my brother and talk to him, but I'll see ya around." before giving the trooper a mock salute. Marcus saluted back and nodded "Yeah, see you around, miss Arc." calmly. "Just Jeanne." She said. "Call me Jeanne. Miss Arc's mom. Goodbye." and with that, she walked off. Marcus nodded, clipped his helmet to his belt again and walked back to the awed miss Goodwitch, whose jaw was hanging and long. He said "Let's go on..."

Glynda shook off the shock, then stuttered "U-Uhm... of course. Follow me..." and she tapped a comm bead and said "Get the infirmary to the main boulevard, section 3... Four KO students..." then sighed "Yes... Yes, they're fine, but..." She rolled her eyes "Two vs Four... Yes, I believe it was recorded by at least one passerby. You can ask... Goodbye."

By the Heavens...


	3. Quarters

The room was... Surprisingly large.

It had room for four beds, but only one had apparently been prepared and brought in, a neat little comfortable cot set in the far right-hand corner. There were maybe four work desks laced around the place, each different but with just as much space for both storage and other such necessities, a bookshelf right under the large main window(Which had black curtains) and finally, there was a door to a bathroom. Glynda held the door open for him, then asked "So?"

"Good enough..." The boy said to her, sternly.

"Very well... Also, Lieutenant." Glynda said, taking the boy's attention to her. "I'd usually berate students for fighting other students and I would especially do so if some of them wind up in the infirmary. But since you're new to our world, I will let it go this time, with the condition it will not repeat unless it's in self-defense. Even then, exercise restraint to the utmost extent." She explained to him, giving him a stern staredown. The Warhawk scoffed, then nodded and said "I will try to keep to that." breaking away from the woman's iron gaze

Glynda could see the boy's tired look. His shoulders were sagged, slumped, his eyes were bloodshot and he was twitchy. She'd heard his stomach grumble on the way here and from the way he was clicking his tongue, she could assume he'd also had nothing to drink for a good day or two. She sighed, then nodded and said "Lunch is currently being served in the cafeteria. You've still got 30 minutes to go there. One final thing..."

The boy looked at the woman extend a small, white item to him, with a golden button in the middle. He took it, tapped the button and was surprised to see the device extend. A miniature version of the device they'd used to take a photo of him. She tapped the screen on an application called 'Beacon map' and told him calmly "Use this to guide yourself around. You'll find the Cafeteria and can also lock your Dorm door with it. I have to return to the Headmaster." then she added fondly, placing a hand on his shoulder "After you eat, try and get some sleep, Lieutenant. I can see how tired you are and so can everyone else. My job includes taking care of the children here and that now includes you."

The boy stared at her, wanting to retort at being called a 'child', his look heavy, but he restrained himself, nodded and responded simply and weakly "Aye..." allowing for the woman to turn about and leave. He walked toward the bed, then sat down and rubbed his eyes. Battle fatigue had gotten to him. It'd been weeks of arduous combat and combat drops under severe fire from Heretic forces. He leaned his head back and stared up at the ceiling for a few seconds, recalling the names of the boys that'd survived the drop with him.

"Marek... Corporal, Elysian... Fendar... Trooper, Elysian... Hark... Corporal, Elysian... Wycor... Corporal, Warhawk... Vandaar, Sergeant, Elysian... Sheyor... Trooper, Warhawk... And my old friend and NCO, Eneyo... Tech Sergeant, Warhawk..." He muttered the names to himself. "Grimm... Huh? The name fits them..." He then growled, remembering the damned daemons that took his men and leaning his face back into his palms. "Doesn't make them any less a bunch of targets for me to kill... I'll avenge you, boys. I'll avenge you."

He sighed, then looked ahead, to see one of the desks had a mirror. He ran a hand across his scars, then lowered his hand and said to himself "Why, by the Throne, did you survive, you dumb Flak-fodder, and not your boys?" before shaking his head and standing up. He unclipped his helmet from the belt and placed it on the nightstand beside the bed, before dropping his modular backpack to the floor, beside the bed.

He walked out of the room, before moving the device he was handed by the electronic lock of the door. It clicked. He nodded, then checked the map. He had to leave the Hab-block and get out, then head to the left and straight ahead. He'd see the dining hall. So he did just that. Students greeted him since he was rid of his heavier pack. He regarded them with a slight nod, each of them, without looking at them and he didn't speak. His mind reran back to that Belladonna girl rescuing him. They'd just managed to set up a perimeter, lost Sheyor thanks to one of the wolves. They'd gunned down a few Grimm together, but they soon overran them. Small, fast and on two legs. Took a hell of a lot of las fire to take them down, he'd had to take out the flamer. By the time he did, half the survivors were gone... A bigger Grimm came in, a more advanced little Creep. Took two of his men again. Left him and Eneyo...

Eneyo pushed him into the body-filled hold of the Valkyrie... Grimm didn't come near the fires of the engines. Heard the screams and las chatter... Then silence. Walked out, saw Eneyo torn in half by the bigger Grimm, said Grimm wounded... Took out sword and cut it down, but was soon surrounded by more smaller ones... Heard gunfire, three small fell. Turned and saw her. Staunch, careful and full of resolve, she dashed like a shadow from the night and took them out, decapitated them with her two weird swords. Saved his ass.

"I'll have to thank Belladonna for the rescue..." He murmured to himself calmly. Yeah... Definitely would have to. He looked saddened, felt more distant than ever now. He stood up, rubbing his eyes, and walked onward... He looked up at the clear blue sky as the sun of the system floated above him, enough to make him instinctively raise his hand to blot it out of his LOS. Gulls and other small birds flew above him, gliding through the sky majestically. Much like his boys would've in the drop...

He sighed, looked away and walked toward a massive building, a cathedral-looking place, with Gothic design. The only one around. He watched students walk out, placing empty food trays on top of trash cans outside. The windows were not tinted, so it allowed the boy to see the tables lined up from one side of a wall to another, benches siding them. He walked to the massive oak doors and pushed them open, revealing the main room. It was only half-occupied, so he could quickly find a seat after he grabbed the food...

He heard the call "HEY, MISTER LIEUTENANT! OVER HERE!" a cheery young voice... He gazed to his left, to see team RWBY, sitting with five others. The team leader waved at him cheerfully, a smile on her face. He pursed his lips, unsure of whether to walk to them or leave them be. Seemed everyone he knew died horrible deaths... He shook his head, then nodded and walked toward the table they were sitting at. As he approached them, he gave a quick mock salute, then said "Hello." to everyone in a calm tone. The other four waved at him, one of them, a girl with orange hair and a colorful uniform wolfing down a sandwich while the others looked at him, somewhat awed by his body armor.

"This is the guy we told you about." Yang motioned toward Marcus with a smirk. "Took down a whole Grimm pack by himself..."

"A rage-induced spur of the moment." The boy explained nonchalantly, almost too careless for how he actually felt. "Losing your entire squad is not something you'd like to see. Especially if they're eaten alive by malformed mutant demons like these 'GRIMM" and he made the air quotations of necessity to outline the Grimm. Both Huntsman teams cringed slightly at the explanation.

"Wow... Downer." A blonde boy muttered from beside him. The Harakoni looked to see a redheaded girl with a ponytail, strange brass tiara and jewelry and emerald eyes elbow the blonde in the ribs. He grunted in pain, then said "Sorry..." weakly. The Harakoni half-glared at the boy, making him duck, before looking to his compatriot, the redhead, and asking "Whom might you be?"

"I'm Pyrrha Nikos." Pyrrha nodded with a smile "It is an honor to meet you, Lieutenant."

"Wait..." Marcus realized, looking to the girls "You're calling me by my rank? I'd have expected civilians to call me by my name."

"Miss Goodwitch came to speak to us about you. Said we should refer to you by your rank." The White-haired girl explained. "I also believe we didn't introduce ourselves." and she looked up to the Red girl, who nodded. "Of course... I'm Ruby Rose, leader of team RWBY. I usually serve as the fast-moving girl with the sniper-scythe." then the white-haired girl continued "I'm Weiss Schnee. Ruby's partner and the team's support unit. I aid them with Dust and Glyphs." followed by the Black-haired girl "I'm Blake Belladonna, but we know each-other. I usually run the stealth and scouting part of the team. And sometimes the precision killing." and finally, the blonde who spoke with a smirk "I'm Yang Xiao-Long, team brawler and Blakey's partner."

The boy then looked to the opposite team, to which the scraggly blonde boy nodded and explained "Jaune Arc. Team JNPR's knight. I usually go about with swords and such, but hey, I also run a shield!" then he quipped and chuckled weakly, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. Marcus looked unimpressed at the supposed joke. He looked up at the orange-haired girl with blue eyes who'd just finished her third sandwich. She smirked, wiped her mouth and saluted mockingly with a wink, then said "Nora Valkyrie's the name! I run as team JNPR's heavy hitter! How'd'ya'do?"

Following her up was the redhead, who nodded and said "I'm Pyrrha Nikos, the team's sniper and Jaune's partner." motioning toward the blonde boy. Finally, there was a young boy with short, black hair and a fringe covering his left eye. Said fringe had a lilac strip in it. He nodded and said "I am Lie Ren. The team scout and stealth expert, much like Blake."

Marcus hummed, then nodded and said "I am First Lieutenant Marcus Maelon, Harakoni Warhawks 43rd. Team Juniper knew not of my full name or rank." He then explained calmly. Everyone nodded and Ruby said "You can sit with us, LT." pointing at an empty seat beside her. He shrugged, then said "I will go retrieve some food first... May be necessary."

"How about I help ya with that?" A voice familiar to him said jovially from behind. The entire crew turned about and Jaune squeaked, eyes widening at the sight of his smirking sister. Jeanne nodded to Marcus and said "Good to see ya again, chief." calmly. Marcus looked to the girl, then nodded and said "Ah, miss Jeanne." to which Jaune burst out "WAIT, SIS, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"

"SIS?!" Both teams of huntresses and huntsmen barked out. Jeanne smirked, hands on her hips, then said "I moved here. I'm gonna be helping out at the infirmary, Jauney." in a mocking tone, grinning. Marcus' brow quirked up as he looked between the two... He now saw the likenesses. Sighing, he nodded to the girl, then said "Very well... You know any good food I could try? I'm sick and tired of those slabs that they gave us in the Guard."

"Right this way." The girl smirked smugly. The two left for the buffet... And awed Jaune to an incredible extent.


	4. Operation 1:Baptism by Fire

The Soldier had his eyes wide...

The Food was incredible. Its scent took the boy by the nostrils the first time he'd stepped up to the buffet... He didn't know what half this stuff was, but he'd heard of it from the officers back in his unit. He felt it rain in his mouth, flood even. The red sauces, the meats, all of it looked so appetizing his stomach immediately growled and grumbled. Jeanne giggled, then said "Jeez, chief. You're staring at it like you've never seen food before."

The soldier looked to the girl with a gaze so odd it made the woman cringe, then ask "Wait, SERIOUSLY?!" words to which the Infantryman nodded simply, drool escaping from between his lips. The girl looked to him with slight conflict. For one, she wanted to laugh at the baby-like Guardsman, but then again, this guy probably saw more fights than she ever did. And she'd graduated Beacon at 15, for Oum's sake...

She sighed, then motioned him toward the trays and told him calmly "Pick out what looks best to ya, then take a chocolate protein bar to top it all off." to which the soldier nodded. He took a tray into his hands, then walked toward the line and picked out his food. Spaghetti with red sauce (A tower of them) and that chocolate protein bar as per suggestion. She was slightly awed at the amount of food he'd managed to put onto the plate, but she sighed and nodded.

Back at the RWBY/JNPR table, Yang was grinning deviously as she looked to Jaune and said "So your sis graduated Beacon at an early age and with top honors? Jaune, sounds like you're under pressure to do the same." to which the blonde boy groaned and rubbed his eyes, then whined "I know. What am I gonna do now?" to which he heard his sister answer "Train, train and train, Jauney." smugly.

"Hey, Jeanne..." Jaune murmured. He felt a pat on the back from the girl, who then said "Ah, calm yourself bro. It'll be fine. We've been through worse as kids, right? I mean, the other six sisters really gave us hell and high water." She chuckled, then said "Gods damn, I remember when Azura dressed ya up in a maid's costume, with the cute little bonnet and-" She felt Jaune cover her mouth and saw him staring at her angrily.

Marcus sighed, then leaned on to continue eating. Yang looked to him, then asked "Hey, Chief. Ya doing alright?" worriedly as she noticed the grave look on his face. The Harakoni looked to the girl, swallowed the food in his mouth, then nodded and yawned loudly. "Haven't slept in weeks, Xiao-Long... Not exactly in tip-top shape today." to which the girl nearly slipped. "Weeks?"

"How come?" Blake asked from beside her. The soldier shrugged and said "Battling on the ground and in the air, the liberation of that Hive and the crash-landing..." He shook his head. "It's a lot of things to keep me busy."

The boy leaned his head forward, wiped his eyes clean of dew, then sighed. He looked to his side, unclipped a strange metal box and popped it open, to reveal black cigars on one side and a set of matches on the other. The boy put the cigar in his mouth, then lit the match and with it, the cigar. Its tip burned scarlet and smoke lifted from it. The boy inhaled, the ashes from the tobacco lighting brighter, then he exhaled, puffing them out toward the floor. He inhaled deeply, then shook his head as memories of his team befell him again. Them... And hundreds of others he'd lost along these five years of his life... He remembered their faces vividly.

"Jeez..." Yang whispered, looking back "What's with him?"

"I've seen that look before..." Weiss whispered back, looking at the Lieutenant and then at Yang "It's... It's the look of a veteran of many campaigns. A man who saw too much for his own good... Or a child in this case." She spoke softly "Seventeen years old and yet at the rank of Lieutenant? He must've achieved things to have that... And seen horrors I don't think we can begin to fathom."

"He also lost his team back in the crash. I saw bodies all around and found him laying in the burning gunship with two of his men." Blake noted, looking at the soldier. "All of them weren't even older than him. Most seemed likely to be his age if not younger." She then added sadly. Everyone looked at the soldier. He nodded to them, then extinguished the cigar onto one of his leg armor plates.

His Scroll rang... The boy took it out, then saw a message from Ozpin, labelled 'MISSION'. He set it back into his pocket. Ruby leaned toward him, then asked "What's up, chief?" to which the man shook his head and responded "Nothing. A message from the Headmaster." then nodded and said "I sadly have to go." before standing up and dusting himself off.

"Wow, wait. I'm comin' with." Jeanne said, then she patted Jaune on the shoulder as she stood up too. Marcus' brow quirked up, then he said "I don't think you should."

The girl smirked, then said "My ass, I shouldn't. A trained huntress can help in about anything." smugly. She walked up to him and whispered into his ear the explanation "I am not stupid, Marcus. When Oz usually asks for something, it means a mission if it's a new guy. Been in that situation before." to which the Warhawk looked at her with some respect. He saw determination in her eyes, knowledge of Duty. He sighed sadly, nodded, then responded quietly "Landing pad, five o'clock. Have a ranged weapon with you at least."

"Me Little Armalite, chief." The girl nodded, smirk withstanding. "Vale Spec-Ops, two years after Beacon. Kept the ol' girl for a while."

"Good." Nodded the infantryman. He looked toward the teams, then told them "We've something to deal with. You enjoy your lunch." before he walked away. Everyone looked between him and his now-empty plate with some awe, then Nora chimed in "Wellll... That was random." to which everyone nodded and said "Agreed." before turning back to their food.

Jaune looked at the two, the soldier and his sister, exiting the place, before he sighed and said "There sis goes again."

* * *

 ** _Aboard Bullhead..._**

The infantryman racked, locked and loaded his weaponry. The power sword, chainsword and hellgun were ready, same as the hell pistol. He slung the weapons onto his backpack, then looked to the pilot and said "Swing about over the camp at high altitude. I will drop like lightning." receiving a thumbs up from the cockpit. He arranged his jump pack, just as Jeanne asked "You sure about the hot drop?"

"Yes." Nodded the soldier, standing up and grabbing a handrail. It was broad daylight, so she was right with the term 'hot drop'. But that didn't stop the Warhawk. He knew what he had to do and _how_ he had to do it. He looked down at the rushing wind around him, then placed his helmet and mask on his head, sealing the suit as the atmosphere atop became slightly thinner.

He started running through the Checklist "Grav Chute check! Equipment on-deck ready and stowed safely into the pack! Confirmed!" He ran a hand over the Grav Chute's altitude meter, before setting it to 500 feet and maxing out the Grav Thrust. He tapped his helmet, placed his visor over his eyes and said "HUD online!" as the blue Heads-Up Display appeared, showing altitude and such. He nodded, then said "Pre-drop checklist complete..." and he watched the light inside turn on, to GREEN. GO.

He turned to Jeanne, nodded and said "BRING ON THE THUNDER!" before he dived backward and made the girl run off to the side of the craft, crouch and see him falling, head-first in toward what seemed to be the camp below, unfortified as it was... Fangers must've been new here. She grinned, then looked to the pilot and showed him to swing about and land as close to the camp as possible. With a grin, she spoke too "Bring on the Thunder, chief."

Marcus kept a streamlined dive, tucking his arms in around his body and keeping his legs straight for enhanced speed. His altimeter was dropping fast into the hundreds of meters. He'd set the chute for a near 200 meter activation. Danger Close to a level beyond humanely normal. Warhawks were taught since early age, however, how to deal with such fast drops back home. He looked at the camp, his scanner detecting six targets, seven... Ten. Twenty already...

He smirked as the altimeter reached 300 meters... He swiveled about with his full body weight, then racked the chute's activator at 250, for it to thrum hard and fast to live, sending a shockwave below that knocked a man off his feet and blew apart some glass. It appeared that, as he'd dropped, he now saw where he was landing. An abandoned gas station that was converted into a base... As he dropped down at slower speeds, he delivered a hard kick into the back of a White Fang soldier, stomping RIGHT on the red animal emblem on his back. He heard a snap.

Drawing his Hell pistol quickly, he fired a shot into the Abhuman traitor's head, melting it before he saw what kind of soldier he was. He raised the pistol and snapped it to his right and fired, one-handed, right into another one's chest as he came up the stairs, sending him tumbling down. The boy drew his Hellgun and sheathed his pistol, then ran toward the stairs and raised his Hellgun.

A burst of automatic fire struck beside him, bursting the wall's concrete and sending dust and debris falling onto the stairwell. One shot pinged off his shoulder and into the wall, throwing his aim off target momentarily. He aimed his Hellgun properly, shouldered it and lit up the bastard. The burst of laser fire partially melted the skin off the bastard and sent him, boiling and splattering against the shelf of the store, which was empty.

Going down the stairs and checking his corners, the boy kicked the weapons away from the bodies and into a corner, before advancing toward the front exit of the building. A bastard appeared from the left and grabbed his rifle, pushing it down before trying to stab him with a sword. The boy deflected the blade with his gauntlet, before grabbing that arm, twisting it and delivering a punch right in the throat, spinning the bastard about and letting him go. He then drew his monoknife, grabbed the bastard by the hood and hair and slit his throat, sending blood spurting onto the counter.

He let the corpse go and watched a squad advance toward the building, rifles and pistols raised. Their leader raised his hand, then brought it down... Marcus gasped and ducked into cover as lead flew over his head, bursting through glass and hitting the floors, the counters and into the corpses. Sparks flew over his head... He picked up one of the two rifles on the floor beside him and checked ammo by hitting the clip onto his helmet. About 20 rounds... He counted 10... And peeked out, setting his weapon to full output.

The Lasfire swept the squadron of enemies with extreme prejudice. The men were felled as rounds pierced through their allies and tore them up and apart, melting skin, composite armor and weaponry with each impact. He head the gun hiss and saw the heat counter was into the red. He ceased fire and activated the automatic cooling vents he'd set upon the gun, before drawing his Power Sword and Hellpistol and walking out.

A shot rung off his shoulder, making him double back as it rung high... It was a heavier-caliber round. He looked to see a hole left in his Flak Armor's shoulder and felt a sharp pain in his arm, but he could still move... He ducked into cover as a second shot rung over his head. He fired his pistol blindly, but heard more boots approach him... And automatic fire?

He peeked out to see dear ms. Jeanne advancing with an automatic rifle, hiding behind her shield as bullets pinged off it. She also had a helmet on her head, similar in color scheme to her armor and shield. She held one hand on the rifle and one on the shield, giving a nod to the Chief. The boy stood up, aimed his las pistol toward a roof and saw him... One shot through the head cleaved through his neck.

Two bastards with swords approached him and one managed to strike an open side of his body, but barely scratching it. A bit of blood was left on his blade, but a lot remained on Marcus' as he decapitated the man, then proceeded to eviscerate two more and vivisect a third, sending blood and bits of gore flying, splattering them onto the ground.

Jeanne's Armalite barked and two more fell, shot through their throats, before she slid her rifle on her back and drew her mace. She ran up a bit of debris, pushing herself into the sky, then spun in the air and delivered a strike with the blunt weapon, cracking a skull, antlers and a mask, sending the man tumbling to the floor, before she parried a strike with her shield from a swordsman. Marcus cleaved through the female Faunus' arm, then stabbed her in the chest and threw her back ward, onto the dirt. The girl nodded, defending another strike and kicking a man into a wrecked car, before pummeling his head in with the mace. She swept under another, knockimg him off his feet, then delivered the sharp tip of the shield into his stomach, pinning him to the floor and making him bleed.

Two more were felled by Marcus' swipe to the right, which eviscerated them, spilling their bowels onto the dirt and finished off a last one with a clean slice across... The bodies fell... And the boy looked back to see the White Fang flag on a flagpole in the middle of all of this. He drew his pistol and shot the rope, burning it and knocking the flag off of the damn thing.

Jeanne looked about, then cringed as she took off her helmet, then said "Crikey..." as she saw the carnage. "I didn't even count how many we've killed..." to which Marcus nodded and said "I lost count when that squad hounded me..." before sliding his Power Sword into its sheath and saying "We should... Probably call for evacuation... And a Cleanup crew... I wonder what was so important to Ozpin here."

Jeanne smirked, then said "Probably testing you out, chief." before she looked up and saw the bird swinging by to pick them up. Marcus shrugged, then said "So he sends me to the easiest possible target to eliminate it, without any strategic worth aside from possibly serving cars in the near future, to test me..." And he sighed, taking his helmet off, revealing he didn't even break a sweat, then he looked to his arm and felt it. A bit of blood seeped through the hole, but nothing too major... He nodded, then said "Next time, I'll ask for a bigger target."


	5. The Fulcrum

**_AN:Alright... Time to introduce our second badass Imperial Guardsman..._**

 ** _Also, as a response to the 6 or... 7 reviews left by the guy, could you please get an account? Doesn't really take long and I could use a little backup in discussing some of this 40k gear power level and, well, other minor details in the story. And to explain some things to you about what I'm actually trying to do here._**

* * *

 ** _The Forests..._**

A young Cadian gasped for air, clawing at his helmet. The Shocktrooper, clad in an airtight set of Storm Trooper carapace armor painted in the camouflage and livery of the Cadian 8th Regiment, unlocked his helmet's environmental seals and took it off his head, staggering and coughing as he doubled over. He swore in Low Gothic, then said to himself "What in the Emperor's name just happened?" as he stumbled to his feet, helmet in hand... He felt his gear weigh down upon him and, gazing up to the blue sky, he wiped sweat from his brow with his gauntlet-covered hand.

The boy looked at himself, to see blood staining his armor. The close quarters combat he'd faced alongside that Inquisitor was nothing he wasn't used to. He looked about at the treeline surrounding him, regarding it with a sense of familiarity. It felt similar to Cadia's own forestry in some way, but still ever so different from it. He inhaled through his nose, calming himself down, then said to himself "Throne damn... That Champion... It's dead." and then sighed deeply in relief.

He looked at his gear. Clipping his helmet to his belt, he took out his Meltagun. A Vulkan-pattern Melta. A good weapon... He sighed as he checked the containers that held the dangerous liquid fire shot out of this weapon and saw all showed empty, including the one in the weapon itself. He slid it to his back, then said "You served me well, old friend..." before he took out his Ryza-Pattern Hellgun, and racked its bolt. It fizzed and hissed, then powered on with a whir. He looked down its scope as runes powered, dancing in his eyes. Ranging, power output, et-cetera. He smirked, then set its safety on and slung it on his back by the strap. He then drew his power sword, a Munitorum basic pattern with few decorations on it. He flicked its switch on, powering the motor inside and sending a burst of electricity through the blade, which lit a blue fire around said metal blade. He nodded, then flicked the switch off...

And looked to his last weapon. His favorite. He grinned as he took the weapon out from his belt. It had a large golden dragon's head, its mouth open around the muzzle, as well as a dark-blue radiator on the top and a rune counting how many shots he had on the back of the weapon. He currently still had 10 shots left in this clip of ionized gas for the Kronos Mark III pattern plasma pistol. He looked to the right, to see the blessing rites written in it by fire and steel. Words of prayer from the Salamanders Space Marine chapter, written before it'd been gifted to him from the reliquary.

"Still active." He nodded as he saw he still had three more ionized gas containers for the weapon. He slowly and carefully set it onto the holster on his armor's chest. He then placed his helmet back on his head and locked it with a quiet hiss, before slapping it twice on the top with his open palm and taking out his Ryza Hellgun. He walked through into the forest. He scanned the area carefully, his visor Heads-Up Display tracking his eye movement and scanning with enhanced precision for any movement.

A pillar of smoke, he had just now noticed, rose high above the forest canopy and into the clouded sky. Quickening pace, the boy ran through between trees and bushes, his speed slightly hampered by the armor. He was still quick enough to reach the treeline near a clearing. A village ahead of him burned... He gasped, then quickly took his binoculars from their holster and looked through them, to sight humans... Firing on civilians. The bandits as they seemingly were, looked ill-equipped with makeshift weaponry, including blades and guns. They wore little to no armor. Meanwhile, the Civilians and their few defenders hid and fought back as best they could, even if they were outnumbered.

The boy watched two Civilians, a man and a woman, running. The bullets of the assailing bandits hit the man in the back, sending him tumbling to the floor, alive but hurt, while the woman took one in the leg. She fell, sprawling, beside her friend as bandits approached and surrounded them. The Cadian scowled, then drew his Ryza Hellgun and aimed through the 4x Scope toward them. The weapon, while similar to a stubber autogun in rate of fire, was designed to hit at longer distances than most of its brothers, so the boy had a slight advantage in distance here. He could pick any major enemies off.

He shouldered the weapon, then aimed down the sight, the runes of the scope dancing in front of his right eye as he aligned the weapon with the nearest bandit with a long-range weapon. He thumbed whatever safety the Ryza had to off, then lightly squeezed the trigger. The bolt of energy screamed out of the weapon's focusing barrel and nailed the man within a milisecond of travel, blowing off his left arm and sending him spinning to the floor, screaming in pain. The Cadian realigned his shot for two more, then squeezed twice. A CQC expert of the bandits' died, his head vanishing in a plume of crimson smoke, then another one with a gun, her chest cavity collapsing and exploding out of her back.

The boy watched the civilian man pick up his wife, presumably, and carry her to safety behind the barricades as more Bandits approached. He took a few more pot-shots at the bandits, making them duck behind the rubble left in the paved street for cover, before jumping back to his feet and running down toward the defending townspeople. The boy watched as two citizen militiamen, clad in brown uniforms, one with a helmet, the other with a simple cap, greeted him, strange autoguns raised to greet him. The boy lowered his own weapon, then said "I am friendly."

"You the one who sniped those four fucks down the road?" Asked one of them, the woman with the steel helmet. The boy nodded and said "Yes. I was in the treeline." before looking about at some of the wounded laying behind the barricade. The Militia Woman whistled, then said "That's some gear on ya, pal..." before lowering her rifle, followed by her friend. "Don't think my old rifle can get through that."

"Probably not. Carapace armor is meant to withstand even heavy bolters." The boy noted, looking up at the woman. She nodded, then introduced herself calmly "I'm Captain Valentine Azurae. Last living officer of the Silvertown Militia. You are?"

"Lieutenant Aaronson Fulcrum, Cadian 8th Regiment, Imperial Guard." Fulcrum answered, nodding respectfully "An honor to meet you, captain." and asking "Where's the mayor of this town?"

"Mayor Shrike's up front with the two Huntsmen we have here." Said the male soldier with the hat. "Bandits really caught us off-guard."

"C'mon. We'll take you to the Mayor." Valentine said, showing the boy to follow. Fulcrum nodded, slinging his Ryza on his back while the sounds of combat surrounded him. Two snipers on the right, carrying scoped, old rifles with wooden bodies holding the actions inside, fired continuously at whatever they could hit. Fulcrum showed the Captain to wait, then walked to the snipers and told them sternly "Try to aim for the ones that seem to be leaders! Don't waste your ammo!"

One of the Snipers looked to him, then asked "You the one who killed those four guys harassing my sis and her boyfriend?!"

"Yes! Now, listen to me! Shoot for who seems to be commanding them and don't waste ammo on the others!" Fulcrum told him. The snipers nodded and the boy who asked him about his sister said "Thanks for helping my sis and her lil' lover out! I owe ya one!" to which Fulcrum shook his head and responded solemnly "Just doing my job! Now you keep doing yours!"

The two nodded to each-other and the sniper turned back to his job, now more steady with his aim, as was his partner. Less ammo was used as they focused on what seemed to be command elements, allowing Fulcrum to walk with the Captain to the Mayor's position. He saw the Mayor, a bulky, strong man with short, straight gray hair and a messy beard and wearing a similar outfit to the Militiamen, except slightly more decorated. He had a revolver in his hand and what seemed to be a sword made of ruby and emerald, shining scarlet and green. Beside him was another person, a young woman with a metallic bolt-action rifle that seemed able to extend or retract, as well as a sword bayonet. She had black hair and irises, as well as a full-black outfit made up of a sleeveless turtleneck and tight pants. On her feet were a pair of boots and most of her body was covered by a light metallic armor set.

Beside her was a man with a strange mechanical compound bow that had blades on the arms and seemed able to retract. He had crew-cut dark-blue hair and scarlet eyes, as well as sharp features. The boy wore a dark-blue undersuit, with a set of silver knight-like armor on top, that had red accents and lines running across it. On his hip was also a double-edged, zweihander Longsword.

"Mayor Shrike, sir!" Valentine called out, taking a position next to them and racking the bolt of her rifle as the Bandits continued to fire over and around their heads. The man looked to Valentine and asked sternly "What's the situation, captain?" to which the woman pointed back at Fulcrum and said "Got a Lieutenant from some kind of army with us here, sir! Said he's part of a 'Cadian 8th Regiment of the Imperial Guard'!"

"In service to Holy Terra, Humanity and the Emperor." The boy said with a hint of pride in his calm voice, walking up to the Mayor "What is the situation here, Mayor?"

"Damn bandits hit us at night, when most of the Garrison fell asleep. They slaughtered all but a few of my men and two dozen civilians before we even managed to mount a counterattack. Though I don't think they expected us to show any kind of opposition."

Fulcrum sighed, then said "Disheartening." looking at the advancing bandits. "Spotted their leader among them? Bandits, raiders and privateers like these usually have their leaders with them in each operation." He then asked, crossing his arms. Shrike nodded, then pointed at one of the two soldiers with the weird novelty weapons on them. The girl. "Oliviere saw the leader. Said the woman was clad in scarlet armor with black accents and a Grimm mask. Had feathers hanging from long black hair."

"That'll make her easier to identify." Fulcrum said as a shot rung on his helmet, slightly knocking him back. Valentine gasped and went to see for the boy's health, before seeing him stand up with nothing but a scratch to the paint on the helmet. He shook his head, then said "So... That was a thing." Before aiming the Ryza and firing with it, shocking everyone in the place as the crimson beams of pure angry energy struck the lines of the Bandits, scorching five of them as the gun swept the area. The boy ceased fire as the heat sinks of the weapon hissed, emanating steam into the already heavy air.

He lowered the weapon, then said to everyone "About time we start pushing back, don't you think?"

Shrike grinned, looking to the boy and said "I like your moxie. What's your name?"

"Fulcrum, sir." The boy nodded respectfully. Shrike nodded, then said "Well, Lieutenant Fulcrum, you're the other Military Man here. How do you suggest we proceed?" calmly looking at the boy. Fulcrum nodded, then said "We advance from cover to cover, eliminate as many of them as we can, then find the leader and take her down for the count as well."

"We also need to worry about Grimm attacks..." Warned Valentine, racking her rifle. Fulcrum looked to her in confusion, then asked "What's a Grimm?" to which everyone halted. Val looked at him, surprised, then said "Grimm are... Well, monsters that resemble animals in some way... Where've you been living?" to which the boy answered "Apparently under a rock back on Cadia. Never heard of these Grimm."

"Wait..." Val started to realize. She grinned widely, then asked rhetorically, already knowing the answer "You ain't from this bloody world, are ya? Should've figured from the gear that you were some sort of ayy. Well, a human from 'nother planet." and a shot rung by her ear, making her turn about and drop-shoot the fucker without even aiming. The man sprawled across the floor, on his back and missing half his brain. The woman racked the bolt of her weapon, then said "We'll talk more once we're out of here."

Shrike and the two weirdly-dressed and weirdly-armed people nodded, then the black-haired girl said in a rough voice, like that of a smoker's "So we got a guy from off our planet to help us kill Bandits. Cool." She grinned, then stood up and aimed her rifle. She fired again, nailing another Bandit, but was forced to duck in cover as two shots bounced off her chest plate. The man with the bow stood up and drew one of his arrows. He pulled the string back with the arrow on it, aiming for the man that shot, then let go, sending the arrow hurtling and arching through the air. Fulcrum had just now noticed it had a massive tip, which split midair and scattered several cluster grenades that detonated, killing more bandits and making them duck in cover.

"You Feudals don't seem so surprised at me being from off your planet." Fulcrum said, taking cover beside Shrike. The man nodded, then returned jovially "In a world where what's basically magic, soul shields, Demons like the Grimm and people like these Bandits exist, we're not really THAT surprised by anything anymore. More intrigued, I'd say..." and he looked to the black-haired girl, who seemed to be staring at Fulcrum every once in a while, then completed "... And Olive seems to have taken a liking to you, boy-o."

Fulcrum chuckled, then nodded and stood up, firing a burst from his Hellgun and ducking back into cover. "Right then, mayor. I'll go first with six of your soldiers while you cover. Then you come to us while we cover. Leapfrog advance." he told them. Everyone nodded, readying weapons. The boy looked back, to six of the remaining defenders, then said to them "You six are with me. Stay close behind."

The boy showed them a signal, to which the mixed militia soldiers nodded, readying their weapons. The group jumped to their feet as Fulcrum pushed himself up and over the barricade and started sprinting toward a wall, firing his Hellgun from the hip and keeping the enemy pinned. Stone parboiled and melted, then detonated as the shots struck wide from the bandits, who were firing still at them.

Fulcrum peeked from cover and fired a burst again, the weapon's barrel and heat sink hissing after every shot. He took cover again as the Bandits returned fire, with bullets striking the collapsed stone wall beside him. His six soldiers joined up with him, among them Captain Valentine. The woman stood up, drawing a strange revolver, a decorated one with white metal and gold outlines, then fired six times in succession. Six Bandits fell as she ducked back in cover and reloaded the pistol, then said to Fulcrum "Jeez. There's tonnes of them!" and she looked back, before calling out to one of her soldiers "Auria, get that LMG up here and start giving suppressing fire!"

A girl with a heavy handheld autogun appeared. She fell to her stomach and unfolded the weapon's front-mounted bipod, before shouldering it and looking down its 2x Scope. "SUPPRESSING FIRE!" She called out, squeezing the trigger. Bursts of 5 shots every half-second emptied the weapon's belts really quickly, but gave enough time for Fulcrum to signal Shrike and his men to advance. Seven soldiers and the three Huntsmen ran up to their position.

Bursts of fire peppered the area and two of the soldiers Shrike'd come with fell, struck in the chest and head. The boy swore behind his breath, then stood up and drew one of his Frag grenades. He pulled the pin and heaved the grenade up, tossing it over the cover and right into an enemy position. As it detonated, he showed his six soldiers to dash with him and Shrike opened fire with his team, to cover them. The team dashed to the next collapsed wall, exchanging fire with the Bandits.

Fulcrum peeked over as he saw the Bandits slowly falling back... Then felt a chill shoot up his spine as a scarlet portal opened...

A body of a Militia soldier flew through it skidding on the paved road, eviscerated. He saw _her_ walk out of the Portal, a large sword in her hand. The leader of the Bandits took steps up, arranging the mask on her face, then asked one of her COs "Are these people so tough to fight against!? I'd have expected you to slaughter all of them by now!" and gazed ahead, her dark-red eyes peering through the visor of her strange mask. She saw the Militiamen open fire toward her and raised her sword, deflecting the bullets off of it.

The Captain scowled, glaring at the woman from behind cover, then said "That's her... The leader of these motherfuckers..." in a low growl. She looked to her team, then said "Cover me!" as she attached the bayonet to her rifle. Fulcrum grabbed her by the collar and yanked her back, then said "What the hell do you think you're doing, Captain?!" to which the woman answered in a snarl "I'm gonna kill that bitch..."

"Not alone, you ain't... Look at her." Fulcrum told her off sternly, before looking up... He gasped as he heard a battle cry and saw the black-haired girl lunge after the commander. She spun about, bringing the bayonet of her rifle down upon the woman... Who simply parried it and kicked the girl in the chest, sending her spinning through the air and into a wall, the impact cracking a spiderweb pattern into the wall. The girl's body shined black and white for a moment, before she fell out of the hole and coughed out blood...

"Fuck..." She swore.

"Oliviere!" Called out Shrike in worry "GET TO COVER!" as the Huntress struggled to her feet, pushing herself up on her rifle. She watched as the commander approached, eyes wide. The bandit woman leaned down toward the wounded girl, placing the crimson blade of her weapon by the girl's throat, before she said "Hmph... And you're supposed to be a Beacon graduate. Oz has really let his students go."

"Fuck you..." Oliviere snarled, defiantly looking the woman in her eyes. The woman laughed, then said "Defiant to the end, are you?" before she grabbed the girl by the throat with her left hand and pinned her against the wall. Croaking and coughing, Oliviere struggled to fight her way out of the woman's grip, kicking toward her and swearing in multiple dialects. The woman took off her mask, revealing her face, then said mockingly and condescendingly "You'll die here and now, you poor, stupid girl."

Fulcrum aimed his weapon to halt the woman in her tracks, before a pair of arrows exploded over her head, disorienting her. The other Huntsman dashed out, drawing his sword and slicing across the woman's stomach, making her back off. He picked up Oliviere, then said to her and her alone "You ain't done yet, Olive." before nodding to Fulcrum... The boy nodded back and sent a long burst of las-fire down the woman's back. She turned about, seeing Fulcrum as she staggered, her Aura lit up by the lasers. She sliced the air and teleported away, then right beside Fulcrum, kicking and slicing through his escort before preparing to strike at the surprised boy. She raised her blade and aimed for him...

Before captain Valentine jumped in the way, halting the blade with her shoulder, nearly vivisecting her right under Fulcrum's eyes. The boy grabbed Valentine by the hip and yanked her back, drawing his own power sword and locking himself into a blade-lock with the woman, from which sparks came to fly. He glared at her through his visor, then said "Who the hell are you!?"

"I'm Raven Branwen... And you're the one who's killed several of my men, are you not? With that Laser Rifle of yours..." She smirked. "You've gained my attention, boy."

"GRIMM! WE'VE GOT GRIMM INCOMING!" called out one of the Bandits. Raven scowled, then said "Well..." looking at Fulcrum a bit sadly "Guess I'll have to wait to find out what's under that mask, boy." before she kicked him off of her, next to the Captain and vanished into her own portal... Fulcrum growled, then looked to see the Bandits scattering to meet with Raven at her portal, all their loot with them. He aimed his Lasgun angrily, then fired a burst, killing two men carrying foodstuffs and one carrying jewelry and such... Before Raven smiled at him mockingly and she herself walked in.

Fulcrum growled, then sighed and lowered his rifle, turning to tend to the Captain's wounds... The cut was nothing major, but a lot of blood was still drawn. He pushed her up against the wall, then asked angrily "What the hell did you do that for?" as he took out field dressings, disinfectants and antiseptics from his basic field medkit. The woman chuckled, then groaned and responded "Her blade can cut through about any type of armor out there... We're lucky we got away... That Branwen bitch really knows her shit regarding raids... And now there's Grimm in the town."

Fulcrum sighed, then looked up as he heard stomping... And saw several black-furred creatures with bone mutations he didn't even want to think about appear down the road from them... His eyes wide, he picked up the Captain and started carrying her back to the others as the creatures growled and snarled toward them. He hissed, placing the woman down next to Shrike, who spoke worriedly "Damn it... Two wounded and sixteen dead soldiers... This isn't good."

"We're low on numbers... And my Aura's screwed." Said Olive with a note of exasperation "I shouldn't have fucking charged..." to which Fulcrum glared daggers at her and said "No, you shouldn't have." angrily. "But at least you're alive... That's something." and he gazed back at the daemons coming down the road... Surprisingly not charging them yet, but still a threat...

"God-Emperor dammit... Mayor Shrike, sound the evacuation... We're leaving now!" He called out, to which Shrike nodded and took out his Scroll... Fulcrum looked again at the Grimm, then drew his Hellgun and aimed toward the lead one, a massive, mutated wolf of some kind, with a heavy bone plate on his head, large spikes on his back and heavy, rib-like armor around his chest... He roared.

This was not gonna be an easy evacuation...


	6. The Discoveries and the Story

**_A few weeks ago..._**

 ** _M41, Y999, M12, D20. Above planet Torrhahn Primaris_**

 ** _-Play Klendathu Drop:Starship Troopers OST-_**

 _Aboard the Imperial transport ship Indomitable Faith,_ hundreds _of drop troop battalions formed into the mixed Regiments of the Elysian Third, Harakoni 43rd and Cadian 6th Airborne. Kasrkin, Elysian and Harakoni alike strapped on body armors ranging from the simple olive drab flak vests of the Third, to the desert tank Harakoni 43rd and emerald and tan Cadian 6th Airborne Carapace Armors._

 _Leading Mixed Squad 3, formed of Elysians and Harakoni 43rd members, Lieutenant Marcus Maelon hauled his Hellgun off his back, running aboard the first Devourer Drop ship, a massive transport aircraft, bulky and able to fit multiple squads aboard it. They were dropping with Mixed Squads 2 and 4, while MS1 moved with the forward transports and the non-mixed squads of Cadians and Harakoni. The cavernous hangar of the Indomitable housed six dozen transports, among which only 12 were the Devourers. Several Aquila Landers and Valkyries were also present on-deck, being loaded up with basic Guard Infantry from the Cadian 6th's non-airborne Shock Troops._

 _The drop troopers streamed aboard their drop ship, with Marcus being the first one in, taking his officer's seat among his squadmates, dead in the middle of the hull. He looked to his team and said "We're going in with the first wave! That means more Chaos Cultists for us to kill! Remember to keep your weapons close and loaded! I don't want one of you to run out of ammo down there! And keep your sights clean and goggles on your eyes! The dust storms that usually kick up on these desert worlds are a pain in the arse!"_

 _"Remember your training!" He called out to them again as the last troops boarded the vehicle, among which was a Cadian Senior-Commissar, the hatch closing in behind the older man. The Lieutenant saluted the man and yelled out to his team again "By the Emperor's will and kindness, you will make it back alive! Stay together, stay strong... AND KILL AS MANY OF THOSE TRAITORS AND HERETICS AS YOUR LAS PACK WILL HOLD SHOTS! FOR OUR CADIAN BROTHERS! FOR THE EMPEROR!"_

 _"HOO-RAH! FOR CADIA AND FOR THE EMPEROR!" called out the squad, some with grins on their faces. They locked weapons into their cradles with a dozen clicks sounding off and put on their own harnesses as the drop ship powered its thrusters. The hull of the craft groaned with stress as it and its 11 other sisters pushed itself out of the hangar, followed by many of the smaller drop craft. The slight grav pull of the vessel as it dived toward the planet's dusty surface was felt... The white lights aboard it switched to dim red drop lights._

 _"SOLDIERS OF THE DROP CORPS OF THE IMPERIUM! DO YOU WANT TO LIVE FOREVER!" Marcus called out as the gravitational pull and atmosphere of the planet started shaking the entire drop ship. Raucous cheers sounded off from the boys and girls present aboard, but the Commissar, who seemed steely, ready for the drop himself. After all, half of the people aboard the Drop Ship were non-drop personnel or at least underequipped for high-altitude Grav-Chute drops._

 _The light of the hull flashed scarlet twice, then amber, then emerald. The drop troops' safety harnesses automatically unhinged and they stepped to their feet as the side doors of the hold opened. Taking up rows, MS2, 3 and 4 all prepped for a hard drop. Outside, Traitor flak rounds exploded around the ships, puffs of smoke in a black curtain that killed several gunships already and wounded dozens more. Two Valkyries lit a flame under the heavy fire and one burst, detonating._

 _"LAST ONE ON THE GROUND IS A BABY GROX!" Called out an Elysian cheerfully. Marcus laughed, then gave the thumbs up and dived head first down, putting his goggles on and activating his helmet's in-built rebreather. The formation of drop troops joined up with him, scattered as for the Flak not to catch them off guard. From this height, they could already see the trenches dug into the sand and the falling balls of flame that were the gunships hit by the fire. Hundreds of thousands of other specks in and around them showed surviving drop troopers moving into formation._

 _Marcus' HUD Runes showed the fast-dropping Altitude and he saw the ground ahead approaching too fast for sanity. He tapped his Vox com and called out "REDUCE SPEED! PREPARE TO ACTIVATE THE PARACHUTES! WE BREAK THE WIND AT 400 METERS!" to which he heard no response, instead seeing his soldiers spread their bodies out, as did he, to slow down. He looked at his Parachute controls, attached to his armor's palms, then to his Hellgun, flamer and power sword, hanging off his body, with the Hell Pistol attached to the side via the Holster._

 _He watched the altitude drop to his desired one. He kicked his legs up and braced, tapping the Grav-Chute's controls to activate it at max power. A loud thrum sounded off and he felt the air get knocked out of his lungs as he moved at lower speed to land. He growled, bracing hard, and felt his feet touch the ground. Combat-rolling forward, the boy took out his Hellgun, aimed down the scope and fired down into the first trench, at the first cultist he saw. He then took out his first fragmentation grenade, pulled the pin and hurled it over the cover. The silhouette of a Flak Gun formed and several cultists evaporated thanks to the detonation._

 _His team had landed, he could see, right beside him. He knelt, then raised his left hand and ordered a forward advance. Unto the breach. The soldiers jumped over the trenches or hung over the edges, filling the ditches with Laser fire. Every nook and cranny was being meticulously turned into boiling glass by the constant burst of scarlet, energized light. Even the screams of cultists were muffled by the battle cries of the joint Drop Squads._

 _Marcus looked up as Engines roared overhead and saw Valkyries swinging down and landing, their door gunners firing bursts into the areas ahead of the Warhawks and Elysians. Cadian Shock Troopers, bayonets affixed, surged forth out of them and several more Harakoni dropped from six low-flying Valkyries. The Lieutenant called out "REINFORCEMENTS ARE HERE! GO! GO! GO!" motioning his soldiers over the trench line as the Devourer drop ships landed, deploying the heavy armor..._

* * *

 ** _Today. Emerald Forest._**

"... And that was a couple of weeks before I wound up on Remnant... We took the hill, causing severe casualties to the Blood Pact cultists there. Took nasty losses ourselves too." Marcus reminisced calmly, walking up a forest-covered hill. He held his Auspex scanner out as it pinged with a faint Imperial signal ahead. Team RWBY, meanwhile, stared at him, jawdropped.

"Did you seriously DROP IN THE THOUSANDS?!" Yang asked, worried sick about the man's perception of them.

"Yes..." Marcus hummed carelessly.

The boy walked up to the side of a massive oak tree as the Auspex' pinging got severely louder and more annoying. He turned it off, then knelt and took out his entrenching tool, before starting to dig out a hole. The girls, all the while, prepared weapons. Ruby looked to him, Sniper-Scythe out, and asked "What're you doing, Lieutenant?" to which the man hummed and said "Something of my peoples' is here."

Ruby looked ahead, then gasped as she saw Grimm moving through the shadows. She looked to the others and said "Let's form a perimeter, girls... Keep the Chief safe until he's done with whatever he's doing." receiving affirmative nods from all of them. Yang locked and loaded Ember Celica, while Weiss readied the revolving chamber of Myrtenaster and Blake checked the Mag of Gambol Shroud's pistol form.

Several Grimm moved closer, a Beowolf's growl among them. Marcus kept digging, faster as that growl had just unnerved him severely. He growled, digging faster and faster, until he heard a clang... His shovel had hit something. He used his gauntlet-covered hands to dig through the rest of the dirt, then, with full strength, he grabbed and pulled on a handle, lifting up a large supply crate. He settled it down, then saw it... The Aquila and below it the Cog Mechanicum, the skull and cogwheel symbol of the AdMech... He grinned.

"Powerful weapon discovered... Imperial Stash Box..." He murmured.

Ruby braced as she saw a Creep, one of the smaller Grimm, charging her. She slammed Crescent Rose's tip down into the ground, racked the bolt and aimed the rifle. It thundered and the Creep's armor cracked as it tumbled. She pulled the weapon's blade out of the ground and then sliced the Creep in half. She watched two lesser beowolves appear and lunged at them, pushing herself with the help of Crescent Rose and slicing through the two of them with ease. Raising the weapon to block the claws of a third Beowolf, the girl watched as Weiss emerged.

Schnee stabbed the Grimm in the back, sending a burst of ice up its spine that shattered most of its back spikes and its insides, before launching projectiles from a Glyph formed in its mouth to strike three more Creeps down. Weiss nodded to Ruby, who nodded back, then the two worked together, sweeping through several Grimm. Weiss launched herself forward at high speed utilizing her black glyphs, then propelled herself forward, stabbing through two Creeps and killing both with Myrtenaster.

Blake, all the while, cut across the belly of a Beowolf with her blades, then upward with the larger sword of Gambol Shroud, severing its head. She fell to a crouch, switched Gambol's Katana to pistol form and fired a burst, killing three Grimm. She then stood to her feet, ran toward and jumped over a Grimm, slicing across its back before stabbing a creep through the head with the Katana.

Yang delivered an uppercut into the teeth of a creep, splattering its head across the trees, then fired from the gauntlets, gunning several more down. She looked to see the Chief assembling a strange weapon, then blocked a claw strike from one of the Grimm. A burst of golden laser cut down the other Grimm running for her. She gazed upon Marcus hauling a strange model of the Las Rifle. It looked slightly rusted, but clad in gold plate and with a brighter Aquila on the weapon's sides.

"A master-crafted Lucius Lasgun..." Marcus noted "In perfect condition, pretty much. There's more in the box." And he grinned, before slinging it over his shoulder and drawing his power sword... "Let's finish this quick."

Moments later, the Grimm patrol had been killed. Ruby yawned, stretching, as the sun set, settled down and said "I'd say today was productive..." with a smile on her face. Marcus hauled up the Imperial Stash, then nodded and said "Agreed..." As he looked over the date and time stamped onto the stash box's back. He lowered it beside him, eyes wide, then looked about the Emerald Forest. The Auspex Scanner pinged dozens of other things on his HUD when he first landed on Remnant... He just couldn't care about them over his survival. The realization hit him like a freight train...

"I've called a bullhead, guys." Ruby said, looking at her team. All of them nodded and Yang said "Good, sis... Gosh, I'm tired." before stretching her hands forward. She looked to the Chief, then said "Ya alright, El-Tee?" noticing his thousand yard stare. Marcus' brow quirked up, then he shook his head and said "Oh, yes... I'm fine. And we've recovered what I was looking for." as he gazed down at the Stash Box, then completed "But I feel I'll be making many more equipment recovery trips here and there..."

"Why?" Blake inquired, looking to him. Marcus shrugged and said "There's still more things to find out here. My Auspex has just pinged them to me." to which the four girls hummed. Ruby smiled, rubbing the back of her head and asked "Any chance it's more cool gear stuck nearby? We could take a looksy until the Bullhead comes about." to which Marcus hummed... He nodded, then set the stash down and walked toward another tree, before working to dig it out with his hands... He grabbed onto another metallic construct, this one rusty, not covered, and yanked it out of the ground.

A second Lucius-Pattern Lasgun?!

He looked upon every small detail while examining the weapon. Its wood stock had been eaten by the dirt and bacteria, but most of its metal body remained intact. It was a Carbine... He wiped the dirt off of the shortened Las-weapon, turned it over and saw them. The markings of the Aquila and its Regimental stamp, presenting whom it was owned by... The boy looked at the weapon with a gasp, then said "By the Throne, this weapon belonged to the Imperial Army... It's 10 Millennia old and Master-Crafted as well!"

"Wait, that thing's TEN THOUSAND YEARS OLD!?" Yang barked out aloud, running toward it and kneeling "And it looks like that first one ya found, chief!" to which Marcus nodded and said "Same pattern, same built weapon from the same Forge World... This is a Lucius-pattern, like I said before, but rather a CARBINE than a full Rifle." and he turned it over, grabbing it by the underbarrel bayonet, which still came attached. The M2 Sword Bayonet was much too rusted itself... He sighed, then set it in his bag and said "Well, I'll look into finding more gear on my next trip here." as he heard the Bullhead swing by. He stood up and looked to the girls, nodding to them as the aircraft landed. The four nodded back, smiling and Yang even gave a thumbs up.


	7. Brothers Reunite

**_Beacon Training Amphitheater, combat class. Some days later._**

MATCH GO.

A burst of Hellgun fire laced the air in front of Marcus as Pyrrha shielded herself from the bolts. Whilst keeping her pinned for a short second, the boy drew his Power Sword , twirled it and charged ahead, holding the Hellgun by the grip. He lanced ahead, stabbing, but to his surprise Pyrrha managed to parry with her shield, throwing the sword off to the side. She stabbed into his armor, but Milo's Xiphos form barely dented the Carapace. It gave Marcus enough time to spin about and deliver a heavily-armored boot to Pyrrha's stomach and slice twice across her shield, before raising his left hand to deflect a direct attack from the sword with the gauntlet, leaving a scratch in the paint.

"Not bad, Nikos." Marc noted calmly, his voice sounding crackled due to his Rebreather's microphones. The boy wore the full body armor, covered from head to toe in the set, including the eyes with the opaque scarlet goggles. Pyrrha nodded, then said "Thank you, Lieutenant." before pushing herself off of the lock. The man raised his Hellgun again, then fired a burst center-mass into her breastplate, slightly heating it. The Aura dissipated much of the damage, however, draining it severely.

The soldier huffed as two bullets from Milo's rifle form struck his chest. Pyrrha now hid behind the shield, utilizing her Aura to block anymore ranged damage. The need to adapt was evident. The Warhawk sheathed his weapon onto his backpack, then rushed ahead, sword clutched by both hands as he sliced down onto the shield, with it at full power output. The sword deflected, but Marcus was quick to realign as Pyrrha peeked out, turning the weapon into a spear and trying to stab at him. Parrying the sharp-tipped weapon, the boy delivered a heavy punch to the chest, sending the girl skidding across the training floor.

She shook off the hit and watched as Marcus approached. Raising her hand, the girl focused her Aura to deflect the oncoming strike to the left, before ramming the man with her shield at full speed and jumping upward with him, sending several slices across his body-armor. Pyrrha grunted, feeling only the ceramite plates throwing her weapon back in stead of Aura. She gasped as the soldier then kicked her off of him, stood up in one move, charged and pinned her to the floor, placing the sword by her throat.

"Match over! Winner is Lieutenant Maelon." Glynda announced, raising her hand. Marc stood up, took off his helmet and goggles and extended his hand to Pyrrha. She smiled, sheathing her weapons, then took his hand. The man pulled her up onto her feet and shook her hand. With a nod, the boy told her "You've got a pitch-perfect form of a trained swordsman. Clean and powerful, with each attack. Had I no armor, I think I'd be dead by this point."

"Thank you, Lieutenant. You've got quite the style yourself. A bit more brutal than I am used to, but it was interesting nonetheless." Pyrrha returned respectfully, then asked "Come to think of it, where is your Aura? Shouldn't you have it by this point?"

"I've yet to awaken my Aura, miss Nikos." Marc responded, shocking Pyrrha completely. He looked up and around at the students in the amphitheater and the most noticeable were not team RWBY, nor Jeanne or those goons whom he'd beaten up. IT was this girl in a patchy magenta suit with hair and eyes of the same color, as well as one miss-colored, floppy rabbit ear hanging off the left side and a tilted top-hat of the same color as her suit on the right.

"Lieutenant." Glynda said, walking beside him. The soldier looked to her, turning away from the girl, then nodded and asked "Yes?"

"The Headmaster has requested you go to his office... It's apparently, as the codeword list you gave us, Vermilion priority." Glynda said, accentuating Vermilion. Marcus, with slight surprise, nodded. "Thank you for the warning... I shall take my leave now." before he bowed and walked away, helmet clipped to his belt as he rushed out. Pyrrha looked to ms. Goodwitch, then asked "What is rushing him?"

"The Headmaster's called him." The woman noted. "It's very important."

 _At the top of the tower..._

 _"This is a Tempestus Scion, Primaris priority transmission. Attention, any Imperial Guard or Ordo Xenos units within the vicinity of this transmission, be they Planetside or Spaceside, please answer. This transmission is sent from a Voxcast Auxillia system within my armor set. Kasrkin First Lieutenant Aaronson Fulcrum, aide of Inquisitor, name undisclosed, here, I require pickup for me and several hundred stranded civilians within unknown Forest sector of the planet this message originates from. Village was destroyed by Bandits and demonic creatures of Chaos. We are under continuous attack. Please respond. This message will now repeat."_

Marcus stood, eyes wide, as before him and Ozpin resided a screen which showed the speech patterns and soundwaves. Ozpin, hands steepled together on his desk, looked at the Harakoni boy, unnerved, then said "This was caught in the CCT's airwaves a few days ago and barely now fully discovered. We've managed to isolate the location of the last broadcast... Is he someone you know, Marcus?"

" _Once proud, stood the mighty fortress... Held the Eye at bay._ " The boy quoted a Guard war song freshly written for the Cadians, the prodigal sons and daughters of a world lost to the 13th Black Crusade. The boy allowed himself a small smile, then said "That lunatic son of a bitch is still alive!" with a proud laugh. He looked to Ozpin, then said "Dispatch me and Jeanne! We shall help recover him and the civilians he escorts."

"Should you not send a transmission first? Tell them we've heard their call?" Ozpin asked.

"Voxcast Auxillia systems are comm systems for when the main ones are out of order, reach, or when they simply fail. SOS Buoys of sorts. If he's used that, it can only transmit the Mayday he sent toward us without receiving a response. Our only hope is to trail and join him and the Civilians, providing relief and escort." Marcus explained, readying his armor and gear. Ozpin hummed, nodded and said "I understand. We'll prepare a search party which you'll be leading, Lieutenant. Would you like any Huntsman teams to join you?"

"Teams RWBY and JNPR could use the experience... And get Jeanne Arc with us as well like I said." Marcus told him. "We will need the reinforcements, for I presume Fulcrum's in deep trouble. Wherever he goes, it seems to trail him."

"I see." Ozpin hummed. He tapped his com, then said "Miss Goodwitch, gather teams JNPR, RWBY and miss Jeanne Arc at the landing pad... We've a rescue mission to attend to."

" _Understood. Should I join as well?"_ Glynda inquired. Ozpin nodded and said "You'll be under the Lieutenant's command if you do. Do you need the extra pair of hands?"

"More backup never hurt, sir. Thank you for it." Marcus noted.

* * *

 ** _Path to Vale, day 6, Emerald Forest South Sector._**

The Ryza-pattern Hellgun's chatter and the roars and barks of automatic, semi-automatic and bolt-action weapons issued to the Civilians and Militia of the Village formed a cacophony of unified weapons fire. Grimm creatures, ranging in size from the small Creeps to even giant scorpion-like creatures with heavier armor than a tank's, known as the Death Stalkers, approached their sector of the forest. The trees were felled, burned or scarred by the continuous gunfire and some times even by the Grimm's incessant week-long attacks.

Few could catch a wink of sleep in this battle for survival. Fewer still were unarmed. Fulcrum and Mayor Shrike were in the middle of it all, firing weapons in continuous bursts as they marched at the forefront. Fulcrum grunted as he gunned down several Creeps, holding the Ryza with one hand whilst he had the Plasma pistol in another, vaporizing some of the bigger Beowolves rushing for them.

"Sure as hell hope that signal you sent out is found soon!" Shrike said, firing his handgun at the horde.

"I know it will be found, mayor! Don't worry about it." Fulcrum reassured, eyeing down a Grimm Death Stalker as it moved toward them. He looked at his Plasma Pistol, twirled it and said "But I think we'll need to take care of the Death Stalkers before our backup can actually land." to which the Mayor asked "Any idea? We've managed to keep'em away so far, but they've been trailing us for almost six days now." allowing the boy to smirk as he sheathed his hellgun.

"Cover me." He ordered, drawing his Power Sword. He also took out a grenade and tossed it in the middle of a group of Creeps after pulling the pin, shattering them. Having a path clear, the boy jumped out of cover and raised his Plasma Pistol, aiming it at the Stalker as he ran. Above him, two Nevermores swooped down, firing their arrow-like quills into the ground. Pressing the trigger, the boy sent a superheated ball of cobalt energy into the creature's top armor plate, boiling away at the bone in the first hit.

The second shot tore right through the molten plate, boiling meat and skin. He aimed for the shining stinger that was plunging toward him, then fired two shots from the pistol. It parboiled and flash-vaporized, with the creature, or what was left of it, screaming in pain before the boy pounced on it and stabbed it in what remained of its head with the Power Sword.

He cut clean across three Creeps as he jumped off the disintegrating scorpion, then stabbed a Beowolf through its chin, splitting the bone plate in half and tossing its dead, disintegrating body into an Alpha, before pouncing on its back, slamming the muzzle of the Pistol into the monster's back and firing two shots, boiling meat and bone away from it.

The Mayor and huntsmen joined in, engaging the Alpha at absolute close range while the Militiamen kept up the constant fire from their weapons, whittling down the Grimm horde. The sun began to set as the fighting within the little patch of forest continued. The sun began to fall, its rays going in-between the trunks of the trees. The Muzzle Flashes however simply lit the treeline.

Marcus watched from aboard the Bullhead as they approached, binoculars in hand, as both Plasma and tracers seemed to light up the massive Horde of Grimm converging on his old friend's position. The weapon firing cobalt bolts of ionized gas was clearly an Imperial plasma pistol in design and power. Something master-crafted, to be sure. The boy lowered his binoculars, then said to teams RWBY and JNPR "Looks like my friend just took on his usual size of enemies."

"A HORDE OF GRIMM?!" Jaune and Ruby barked out.

Jeanne chuckled, then said "I have a feeling I'm gonna like this guy." twirling her mace with a grin. Marcus tapped his helmet twice as they swung by, then said "Over the drop zone in 3! Let's light the night up, Huntsmen!"

"Urah!" The crew, save for miss Goodwitch, cheered, readying their weapons. Marcus racked his Hellgun's bolt, then rushed out of the door, jumping and activating his Grav Chute. He landed feet-first onto a Creep which he filled full of las-bolts. He looked ahead, to see some of the Militiamen from the village opening fire his way. Bullets whispered past him and struck Grimm with loud snaps. The soldier moved toward the conglomerate of troopers as the Huntsmen and Huntresses dropped down behind him and Glynda sent lancing bolts of lilac energy toward several Grimm.

Ruby and Yang opened fire with their weapons, pinning Grimm down from a distance and even killing a Beowolf with the combined kinetic strength of the weapons. Following them, Jeanne slammed into two Grimm with her shield, then sent her Mace barreling through them with a blunt, harsh hit, breaking both creatures apart and allowing them to dissolve. Jaune joined her, slicing a Creep in half, but nearly being pounced upon by two more.

Until Pyrrha joined in, stabbing through the two utilizing Milo as a spear. She sent her shield flying, slicing down two more and catching it in time to stop a strike from a Beowulf from striking her. She stabbed it through the chin, right in the 'brain', then slammed it to the floor and pulled the sword out of the bone plate. Nora and Ren joined up, firing from their weapons and clearing a ring around the Civilians.

Finally, Weiss and Blake joined in as well, with Weiss sending shards of ice flying into two Beowolves' chests, pinning them to the trees. Blake decapitated a few with swift, majestic movements and both her blades in hand, then halted and shot from her pistol twice. Twirling the swords, the girl soon killed two more Creeps and a beowolf, projecting herself utilizing her Semblance and striking six more afterward with the same move.

Marcus, meanwhile, swept the area ahead of the Civilians with Las-fire without so much as flinching. He pulled out a Frag grenade, then hurled it over the cover, blowing apart several more Grimm. The Horde, by this point was thinning out considerably... But something much bigger seemed to head their way. Slithering across the forest, evading trees, was a Grimm pair of snakes merged into one... A Grimm King Taijitu seemed to approach at high speed...

Lunging up, the snake-like siamese creature showed its Fangs, hissing as it dashed toward the Villagers and Miltiamen. Two of the soldiers fighting lost their lives, gulped down immediately by the creature, while a third was split in half by its massive fangs. As it slithered among the soldiers, Marcus tried to place Lasbolts into its body, but seemed to fail. The slippery creature seemed to dodge, trying to coil around...

Him...

He growled, drawing his power sword and activating it as the creature seemed to tighten its form around him, coiling quickly. The boy sliced at its body, attempting to keep it away. But failing, nonetheless. Peppering its body with lasbolts made it hiss in pain from both heads, whilst the Power Sword seemed to only wound it, without harming it too much. He growled as he watched the two heads appear, staring at him with hungry scarlet eyes. He awaited for their final strike, aiming both Hellgun and Hell Pistol at them, and firing into their eyes, but to no avail... One of the heads dashed and...

A Plasma Bolt exploded it to smithereens. A second Las Bolt struck its twin. The white head had lost half its mass and soon itself as it saw a Power Sword cleave clean through its neck. The hiss as it disintegrated only made things more amazing whilst the Cadian Guardsman clad in his gunmetal green Carapace armor landed in front of him, drawing a Ryza-pattern Hellgun.

"Are you well, Harakoni!?" Asked the boy, turning toward the Warhawk.

"Fulcrum?" Marcus asked, lowering his Hellgun. The Cadian froze, staring toward the boy with awe as he thought he was being played with. Walking toward the soldier, he took off his helmet and showed Marcus to do the same thing. The two revealed their faces to each-other and Fulcrum gasped, then grinned and called out "Marcus fucking Maelon! By the Golden Throne, you absolute fucking lunatic!" grabbing his hand and pulling him into a bro-hug which Marcus returned, laughing proudly.

"Sweet fuckin' Terra, you still hug like a titan, brother!" Marcus said, laughing. "And here I thought you'd gone and died on me."

"Like hell, I would. My duty still lies with the Imperium. And IF I am to die, I will do it hounding Chaos to the gates of Hell with every fiber of my being... How about you, Marcus? Are you well?" The soldier smirked, punching his friend in the chest. Marcus chuckled, then said "I'm alright, brother. I'm alright." before looking around as teams RWBY, JNPR, Jeanne and Glynda cleared the last few of the Grimm out, with help from the Militiamen and the Elite Huntsmen. They'd arrived just in time. A second later and that King Taijitu...

"Do you have any clue where we are, Marcus?" Fulcrum asked, taking the young boy out of his moment of contemplation. The boy looked to his friend and said "We're on a lost planet, Feudal by all means, Fulcrum, and infested with those creatures that attacked you and the Villagers alongside your long trek here. Welcome to Remnant, the world Forsaken by the Emperor."

"I see... It is good to see you survived well, Marcus." Fulcrum noted, then pointed to the Huntsman teams that joined him here and asked "Whom are they?"

"Huntsmen and Huntresses in training. Allies of mine from a Schola known as Beacon, that trains those such as them into proper fighters."

"So a PDF of sorts? I see." Fulcrum noted. Marcus hummed, then said "Something similar... We can talk more once the Civilians are safely back in Vale and we're at Beacon." to which Fulcrum tilted his head and looked, confused "Vale?" before watching as the teams, RWBY and JNPR, walked toward them, with Glynda and Jeanne in tow. Marcus nodded to them, then asked the taller, leading blonde woman "Is the area secure, Professor Goodwitch?"

"Yes. Thankfully, the Civilian casualties were non-existent. But the Militiamen..." She sighed deeply "A few more to be buried."

"This is a fight that never seems to end, Professor... But we've gotten what we came for here. The Civilians and what's left of the Militia is safe... Thanks to my friend's efforts too." He smirked, then turned to Fulcrum and said "Professor Goodwitch, meet First Lieutenant Aaronson Fulcrum, soldier of the Cadian 8th Regiment Imperial Guard, aide of Creed, a Hero of the Imperium and one I would call a Brother in all but blood. Fulcrum, this is Professor Glynda Goodwitch, combat teacher at Beacon and a powerful woman in her own right."

"Hello, Lieutenant. A pleasure to meet you. And thank you for bringing these civilians here alive" She said respectfully.

"The pleasure is all mine, Professor." Fulcrum bowed, slightly surprising Glynda "I have high respect for those training future generations of protectors to defend Humanity. Also it was no problem. When I see people endangered, I feel awful if I don't help them." He then returned, smiling. Glynda rubbed the back of her head awkwardly, slightly blushing. Marcus chuckled, covering his mouth, then said "Oh, Throne... The Charm."

"Excuse me, Marcus?" Fulcrum inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing, old friend... Miss Goodwitch, did you call the Bullheads for evacuation?" Marcus inquired, looking at the Professor. She nodded, then said "Yes, of course. They're on their way over. If you're ready for evacuation, that is."

Fulcrum nodded and let out a laugh, then said "I think after nigh a week of continuous fighting to escape a Doomed village, I'm ready to leave, miss Goodwitch." to which Glynda smiled, a first sight for Marcus and about half the students. The boy shook his head, then looked up at the sky and said "Oh, God-Emperor, what be thine will for mine Cadian ally whilst I, your prodigal son, lay here...?"

"It just me? or is this Fulcrum guy wooing miss Goodwitch without even tryin'?" Yang whispered to Blake, who smirked and said "Oh, I ship it." allowing Yang a short laughter, then a disgusted "Eww, Oum dammit, Blake!" as she continued laughing. Ruby and Weiss looked to them, then to each-other and shrugged, before walking to greet the incoming Bullheads...

"Long Journey, my friend..." Marcus smirked. "You'll enjoy Beacon."

"I hope so, old friend. Good to see you again, though." Fulcrum nodded, grinning.


	8. Home

The Bullhead ride so far has been filled by chatter between the Cadian and the Warhawk, both of them laughing heartily as they recounted their earlier days during the common campaigns and their old comrades, whom were currently not present. Team RWBY watched this, all four of them smiling as they saw the encounter going accordingly. Yang chuckled as she saw them bump fists, then said "It's a downright badass family reunion over here, I reckon."

"Fulcrum's gear is so cool!" Ruby exclaimed happily.

Weiss simply regarded the two men silently with Blake, seeing them in the light as Veterans. Soldiers who serve a cause and nothing less than heroes in their own right. Both girls listened intently to their stories about the Third Aurelian Crusade under the Inquisitor Adrastia, as her personal bodyguards with two more boys. Most of the combat sounded horrific, but the boys recalled it in such a hearty manner, with so much laughter, it almost seemed like a Saturday Night Cartoon with Heroes to Blake and to Weiss, like two close friends just recalling simple childhood misadventures, rather than possibly life-ending missions against Daemonic entities and creatures she didn't want to or would even dare fathom.

"... Then you stomped on that Throne-damned Ork Choppa's face. I've never seen so many Orks collectively soil themselves like that! Even their Warlord, Bludflagg lost some weight!" Marcus said with a wide smile, making Fulcrum once more burst into laughter himself. The Cadian nodded, then said "Aye, I recall that. It was the first time I saw something like it happen too."

"Ah, fun times." Marcus sighed, leaning back into his chair. Fulcrum nodded, then turned to team RWBY and asked Marcus "So, fancy any of them?" in a whisper, with a shit-eating grin as he saw Marc jumpstart and snap straight. The Harakoni glared at him, then said "I've only been here for less than a month, Fulcrum. You are really asking me this now?"

The boy's trollish grin widened as he said "Yep."

"... I am going to stop you there, old friend." Marcus sighed, then checked his Hellgun. The Guardsman peeked from beside the door and nodded "Beacon ahoy!" to which Fulcrum stepped out to his side, to gain a better view. He was slightly impressed. The architectural marvel that was Beacon was an interesting sight to behold. Even more so considering the city that extended out after the flowing river and the lake below the cliff.

"Wow. Not a bad-looking Schola." The boy said.

"Oh, trust me, it's good... The Food especially." He smirked, seeing Fulcrum's eyes light up. Marc looked to the team, then said "Your vacation is about to start, is it not?" to which Ruby nodded and said "Yep. After the Bullhead ride home, team RWBY's goin' partying!" with excitement bubbling in her voice. Weiss groaned, Blake shrugged and Yang grinned happily. Marcus nodded, then said "You enjoy it, girls. Breaks are important."

"We should know. We barely had any." Fulcrum smirked.

The final approach and landing were calm. Team RWBY bid their goodbyes to Fulcrum(With Ruby vowing directly to ask Fulcrum more about his gear when they got back to school) and miss Goodwitch led the two boys to the Beacon tower. The combat teacher looked to both boys as they exchanged small-talk in a dialect she didn't, nor would make any effort to currently understand. They were boys. Probably just a year or two above team RWBY in terms of age, yet there they were, reminiscing still about years of combat that she couldn't comprehend, despite being a Beacon veteran.

It almost brought a tear to her eye, to know that these two were veterans as young as this. And from what she got on board the Bullhead, many as young as them don't live beyond two hours in combat. Those who do, like these two boys, were either very lucky fellows, very skilled and trained, or had been in a squad with someone as lucky or skilled. One in ten Guardsmen made it past his or her first time in battle.

They clearly weren't something to frown upon. She could only think of vivid imagery of the demons they must've been fighting.

Marcus looked to Fulcrum, then asked "How is your family doing?"

"You mean Sisters and Mama? Hmm... I sadly don't know..." Fulcrum denoted, looking a bit down.

Marc sighed and said "I'm sure they're fine, Fulcrum. They're your family after all."

* * *

 ** _Unnamed World. Segmentum Pacificus. Argus sector._**

The holler of Lasguns over muddy ground, the wet sound of boots slapping against dirt, the crunch of a Lasgun's butt breaking bones in hard impact. These were sounds common of a Krieg assault. But the Krieg unit fighting was no mere, simple squadron. Clad in longer overcoats and with modified Lucius Lasguns, four women led the assault against a Heretic stronghold, stepping over the corpses of those that attempted and failed to retreat.

The gas masks they wore represented a Death Korps skull, giving off their ranks as Panzer Grenadiers, with the woman ahead being the lead. She was tall, seemingly strong enough to crush a Heretic's skull in with a single bash from the back of her rifle and her chest plate(Which barely fit her actual chest) had the markings of the Watch Corps, the Leading Caste of the Death Korps. A Watchmaster, she carried a power sword and heavy las pistol aside from her usual guns.

"Advance!" She ordered sternly, her voice like that of an angel.

Her daughters responded with a volley of Lasgun fire that had slain many a enemy. The three girls, of similar looks to their mother, advanced with every weapon in their arsenal. One of them hauled a Flamethrower. She used it to sweep the trench ahead clear, burning heretic after heretic with a gout of reddish flames. Beside her, her sister fired las-shot after las-shot, killing any that managed to flee the inferno.

Other Kriegs-truppen joined the girls, firing their weapons. The Watchmaster, Sasha, drew her Power Sword and pistol, then ordered "Follow them to the gates of the Eye of Terror! None of them leaves this planet alive!"

Before she sneezed.

"Are you well, mama?" One of the girls asked.

"I think we have just been mentioned somewhere, Elsa." The woman returned, inhaling. "It matters not. Keep up the advance!"

* * *

 ** _Back at Beacon._**

"Pretty sure they're fine." Marcus reassured, grinning. "I mean, all 4 of them are genuine badasses."

Fulcrum smirked right back and said "I'd bet my skivvies." before he looked to Marcus and said "Old friend, I've honestly missed you. It's been far too long since we've spoken."

"We will get to talk more within my quarters, brother." Marc said, gripping the Cadian's shoulder. The trio now entered the Beacon Tower and walked to the Elevator that led to Ozpin's office. Marcus looked over his Hellgun and shut the power off, detaching the hoses from underneath it, before taking out a cleaning rod and citing a passage from the Rite of Maintenance.

"No Tech-Priests?" Fulcrum asked, to which Marcus shook his head.

Upon finishing the cleaning procedure, the boy reattached both hoses and nozzles, before sliding the weapon into the hold on his backpack, locking it in with a click and answering with a shake of his head. As the elevator dinged, the Lieutenants and the professor stepped out of the elevator. The Headmaster, on his feet and looking out the window, swiveled about and smiled, then said "Ah, welcome." as he walked toward them. He nodded to Marcus and said "I am happy you managed to recover your friend, Lieutenant." before turning to Fulcrum and extending his hand "I am headmaster Ozpin, of Beacon Academy. It is good to finally meet you in person, Lieutenant"

"An honor to meet one of those who train the future generations of protectors." Fulcrum nodded, shaking Ozpin's hand with a firm grip. "Marcus has told me briefly of Remnant and its Huntresses, Huntsmen and struggle against the Daemons of Grimm. You now have two soldiers of the Emperor to help in this Crusade against our common foe, for where Marcus goes, I go."

"I see. This is a brotherhood you only meet among soldiers who have fought on the same front, against the same foes." Ozpin observed "And from what mister Maelon told us, you two and another two have seen plenty of battles in the same unit."

Fulcrum grinned "Yes. Under service of the Inquisition, we were some of its best Scions. The Inquisitor we served under can tell you as much."

"That's good." Ozpin said "I can have Lieutenant Maelon brief you about the situation on Remnant more. Since you decided to stay in Beacon, I'd say that should help, correct?" giving a smile. Fulcrum nodded, then saluted... And blinked as a flash blinded him for a moment. He blinked away the white, his blurry vision returning to normal... He shook his head, then looked to Glynda.

"We have to have pictures for the School database, since you'll be staying here as students." Glynda explained.

"I see." Fulcrum smiled at her. He winked "Thank you for telling me."

Marcus paused for a moment, swearing he saw miss Goodwitch blush. Ozpin chuckled, then nodded to the boys "You're free to go, boys. Enjoy your stay at Beacon. All its facilities are free for you to use and you may go to the Library to catch up on past and current events, as well as for some light reading. There are also a Shooting Range, Forge and Training Grounds near by the Tower. That and a Gym close to the dorms."

"Thanks, Headmaster." Marcus said, nodding as he and Fulcrum walked out of the room. As the two marched toward the Dorms, Fulcrum paused for a second, looking over his comrade. Marcus raised a brow, but took to ignoring it as they calmly walked through one of the recreational locations of Beacon, the Park. The Infantrymen of the Guard regarded the greenery around with a slight sense of awe. Sure, the Aurelian crusades showed them plenty of biomes to be remembered, but sights such as undisturbed, undamaged parks like the one in Beacon, with the architecture of similar Gothic design as their own cities, brought memories of home for both.

"Through the Darkness, vengeance incarnate shall light the way..." Marcus once again quoted the song written for the Cadians. "When we heard of Cadia's fall and the 8th's heroic last stand, I, like many of the others, thought you died with the planet, mate." He then grinned "Glad to see my doubts are always wrong about you. Those few that I have."

"Hey, what do you take me for, man?" Fulcrum quipped. "We're footsloggers, but we're the best of the best." He then punched Marcus playfully in the shoulder. The Harakoni shrugged, then nodded with a grin as they finally entered the Dorms building and took the elevator up to Marc's room. As they entered, the Drop Trooper looked to his friend and showed him to a bed on the far right of the room then said "Put your bags and gear where you see fit. The bathroom is behind that door there if you need it. We also have other amenities that were usually seen as private to Officers... Like a shower with running water" Marcus then grinned.

The Cadian Kasrkin nodded, then said "Tha... You said a shower." He turned to his friend, eyes wide.

"Yep. With running water. And good pressure." The Drop Trooper nodded, removing his carapace armor piece by piece. The trooper paused as he saw Fulcrum dash off. His bags were on the floor next to his bunk and on a nightstand, as well as his armor already off. The trooper chuckled as he heard running water from the shower and shook his head. As expected, Fulcrum must've been doing battle for a hell of a long while now, so showers weren't in the planning phase.

"Also, Fulcrum!" Marcus yelled, leaving himself in nothing but the undersuit of the Carapace "We've got a lot of good food at the Cafeteria. Sure as hell beats standard rations, so I can take you to grab a bite! I've had lunch for today, so it'll be only you eating! That, or we've got a kitchen here!" before he heard Fulcrum's silent celebrations in the shower. The soldier sighed, grinning, then set his gear down by his bunk and sat down, taking out his Scroll... Huh, he'd gotten a message.

" _'Sup, Chief! It's me, Jeanne. When you got a moment, we need to talk about my brother. Answer when you can."_

The soldier rubbed the back of his neck, then typed back "For the moment, I have to give the tour of Beacon to my friend, the one we helped with the Civilians. We'll set up a meeting time and point after. A good day." before sending the message and standing up. He pocketed the smart device and took the holster of his laspistol, alongside the weapon, with him and tied it around his waist. He had an uneasy feeling about Beacon's future. It was uncertain, to say the least... But if they could keep it safe, the alliances and friendships they'd forge here would help them with their crusades against the Grimm.

* * *

 **AN:HOLY SHIT was it a long time since Updated this...**

 **Sorry for the wait folks, but... You can kinda guess what's happenin'.**

 **Well, long story short, the 6th Volume of RWBY dropped, so I thought why not push through and continue some of me old stories... Aside from School being a factor that's keeping me away from writing for days on end. Anyways, I'll see y'all later... I also have an idea for who to pair Marcus up... It's a long story, really.**

 **Laters!**


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